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Understanding the Dust Environment at Mercury: From Surface to Exosphere

Krüger, Harald; Kobayashi, Masanori; Murakami, Go +13 more

We provide an overview of our understanding of the dust environment at Mercury and the role that dust plays in shaping the planet's surface and exosphere. Our understanding of the role that dust impacts play in the generation of Mercury's atmosphere has evolved considerably with continued analysis of results from the MErcury Surface, Space ENviron…

Maps of Solar Wind Plasma Precipitation onto Mercury's Surface: A Geographical Perspective

Henri, Pierre; Aizawa, Sae; Raines, Jim M. +7 more

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, possesses a weak intrinsic magnetic field, and has only a very tenuous atmosphere (exosphere). These three conditions result in a direct coupling between the plasma emitted from the Sun (namely, the solar wind) and Mercury's surface. The planet's magnetic field leads to a nontrivial pattern of plasma preci…