101. Characterization of Foreshock Plasma Populations at Mercury.
- Author
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Glass, Austin N., Tracy, Patrick J., Raines, Jim M., Jia, Xianzhe, Romanelli, Norberto, and DiBraccio, Gina A.
- Subjects
MERCURY (Planet) ,MERCURY ,SUPERSONIC flow ,MAGNETIC dipoles ,MAGNETIC fields - Abstract
Observations of foreshock plasma populations at Mercury are presented utilizing measurements from the Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer aboard the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging spacecraft. The magnetosphere and foreshock system at Mercury exists in a unique parameter space, due to the planet's relatively weak magnetic dipole and the proximity of its orbit to the Sun. Previous investigations have therefore questioned whether there is sufficient free energy at Mercury to generate foreshock populations, due to the small spatial scale of its bow shock. The observations presented in this work show that field‐aligned beam and diffuse populations similar to those seen in the terrestrial foreshock are able to form upstream of the Hermean bow shock. The observed populations are organized by the bow shock geometry, and are associated with magnetic wave activity previously detected in Mercury's foreshock with corollaries to the terrestrial foreshock. Plain Language Summary: Upstream of a magnetized planet sitting in supersonic flow, a region is formed called the "bow shock," which acts to slow down the flow before it impacts the obstacle. Because of the dynamic magnetic field environment, the bow shock can also act to speed up a fraction of the population, directing the ions back upstream. These processes have been described at Earth; here, we document observations of nearly 40 foreshock plasma populations observed at Mercury, and compare them to the populations at Earth. Despite Mercury's proximity to the Sun relative to Earth, we find that the two foreshock environments are very similar, with a few key differences worthy of future study. Key Points: Mercury's foreshock contains diffuse and field‐aligned beam (FAB) populations with similar characteristics to the same populations at EarthDiffuse and FAB populations in Mercury's foreshock are organized according to shock geometry in a manner very similar to EarthDiffuse and FAB populations are associated with simultaneous wave activity in the magnetic field [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
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