Earth Ground-Based Observations of Mercury Exosphere — Magnetosphere — Surface Relations
Résumé
Mariner-10 flybys of Mercury were the main sources of information on Mercury's exosphere up to the discovery of the exospheric sodium emission from ground based observatories (Potter and Morgan, Science 229 (1985) 651—653). These later observations were followed by the discovery of potassium (Potter and Morgan, Icarus 67 (1986) 336—340) and calcium emissions in Mercury's exosphere (Bida et al., Nature 404 (2000) 159—161). Several ground-based observations have underlined the significant spatial and temporal variations of Mercury's exosphere. Such observations lead to the suggestion of a large number of potential sources of ejection of volatiles from Mercury's surface, but also to the suggestions of strong relations between Mercury's exosphere and its magnetosphere as well as between Mercury's exosphere and upper surface.