From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mercury
has a very weak
atmosphere
. Its atmosphere contains
hydrogen
,
helium
,
oxygen
,
sodium
,
calcium
,
potassium
and
water vapor
. It has a combined
pressure
level of about 10
?14
bar (1 nPa). The
elements
may come from either the
solar wind
or from the
planetary crust
.
[1]
Mercury's atmosphere consists of different types of elements. These elements may come from the solar wind or from the planetary crust.
[2]
The first elements discovered were
atomic hydrogen
,
helium
and
atomic oxygen
. They were observed by the
ultraviolet radiation
photometer
of
Mariner 10
in 1974. The hydrogen and helium in Mercury's atmosphere are believed to come from the solar wind. Oxygen is believed to come from Mercury's
crust
.
[2]
The fourth element that was discovered in Mercury's
exosphere
was
sodium
. It was discovered in 1985 by Drew Potter and Tom Morgan. The fifth element that was discovered in Mercury's exosphere was
potassium
. It was discovered in 1986 by Drew Potter and Tom Morgan. In 1998,
calcium
was found in Mercury's atmosphere.
[2]
Magnesium
was discovered by
MESSENGER
.
[3]
- ↑
"NASA - Mercury"
. 2005-01-05. Archived from
the original
on 2005-01-05
. Retrieved
2020-09-23
.
- ↑
2.0
2.1
2.2
Killen, Rosemary; Cremonese, Gabrielle; Lammer, Helmut; Orsini, Stefano; Potter, Andrew E.; Sprague, Ann L.; Wurz, Peter; Khodachenko, Maxim L.; Lichtenegger, Herbert I. M. (2007).
"Processes that Promote and Deplete the Exosphere of Mercury"
.
Space Science Reviews
.
132
(2?4): 433?509.
Bibcode
:
2007SSRv..132..433K
.
doi
:
10.1007/s11214-007-9232-0
.
ISSN
0038-6308
.
S2CID
121944553
.
- ↑
McClintock, William E.; Vervack, Ronald J.; Bradley, E. Todd; Killen, Rosemary M.; Mouawad, Nelly; Sprague, Ann L.; Burger, Matthew H.; Solomon, Sean C.; Izenberg, Noam R. (2009-05-01).
"MESSENGER Observations of Mercury's Exosphere: Detection of Magnesium and Distribution of Constituents"
.
Science
.
324
(5927): 610?613.
Bibcode
:
2009Sci...324..610M
.
doi
:
10.1126/science.1172525
.
ISSN
0036-8075
.
PMID
19407195
.
S2CID
5578520
.