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Messenger observations of extreme loading and unloading of mercury's magnetic tail (Document No: 20100031250)
| Content Provider | NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
|---|---|
| Author | Slavin, James A. Gold, Robert E. Baker, Daniel N. Gloeckler, George McNutt Jr., Ralph L. Krimigis, Stamatios M. Zurbuchen, Thomas H. Boardsen, Scott A. Schriver, David Benna, Mehdi Raines, Jim M. Solomon, Sean C. Travnicek, Pavel M. Ho, George C. Nittler, Larry R. Anderson, Brian J. Korth, Haje Sarantos Sr., Menelaos Starr, Richard D. |
| Copyright Year | 2010 |
| Description | During MESSENGER's third flyby of Mercury, the magnetic field in the planet's magnetotail increased by factors of 2 to 3.5 over intervals of 2 to 3 min. Magnetospheric substorms at Earth are powered by similar tail loading, but the amplitude is approx.10 times less and typical durations are approx.1 hour. The extreme tail loading observed at Mercury implies that the relative intensity of sub storms must be much larger than at Earth. The correspondence between the duration of tail field enhancements and the characteristic time for the Dungey cycle, which describes plasma circulation through Mercury's magnetosphere. suggests that such circulation determines substorm timescale. A key aspect of tail unloading during terrestrial substorms is the acceleration of energetic charged particles, but no acceleration signatures were seen during the MESSENGER flyby. |
| File Size | 1616131 |
| Page Count | 8 |
| File Format | |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://archive.org/details/NASA_NTRS_Archive_20100031250 |
| Archival Resource Key | ark:/13960/t5t77cz4q |
| Language | English |
| Publisher Date | 2010-07-15 |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Astronomy Augmentation Planets Plasmas Physics Mercury Planet Unloading Flyby Missions Particle Acceleration Messenger Spacecraft Signatures Charged Particles Magnetic Storms Ntrs Nasa Technical Reports Server (ntrs) Nasa Technical Reports Server Aerodynamics Aircraft Aerospace Engineering Aerospace Aeronautic Space Science |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |