A transient enhancement of Mercury’s exosphere at extremely high altitudes inferred from pickup ions

Authors :: Tom Nordheim
R. M. Dewey
Daniel J. Gershman
Jim M. Raines
Leonardo Regoli
Timothy A. Cassidy
Andrew J. Coates
James A. Slavin
J. M. Jasinski
Neil Murphy
Source :: Nature Communications, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2020), Nature Communications
Publication Year :: 2020
Publisher :: Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2020.
Abstract: Mercury has a global dayside exosphere, with measured densities of 10−2 cm−3 at ~1500 km. Here we report on the inferred enhancement of neutral densities (<br />Mercury has a global dayside exosphere that is very tenuous and does not extend far from the planet. Here, the authors show enhancement of neutral densities at high altitudes inferred from pickup ions that is most likely caused by the impact of a meteroid.

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