What Mercury’s Unusual Orbit Reveals About the Sun
In a new study published in Nature Communications, Goddard scientists Norberto Romanelli and Gina DiBraccio used data from NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft to study the Sun’s changing interaction with Mercury. As Mercury moves through the solar wind, the steady stream of particles escaping the Sun, some of them strike Mercury’s magnetosphere and bounce back towards the Sun. These rebounding solar wind particles generate low-frequency waves that reverberate through space, traveling “upstream” in the solar wind towards the Sun.
Romanelli and DiBraccio observed these waves emanating from Mercury and discovered that the rate of wave production varied throughout Mercury’s orbit. As Mercury moved farther from the Sun it generated more waves; as it got closer, the rate of wave production dropped. The results provide key evidence for a theory that these waves are affected, in part, by the strength of the Sun’s magnetic field, which grows weaker with distance.
Music Credits: “Swirling Blizzard” by Laurent Dury [SACEM], “Sparkle Shimmer” by William Henries [PRS] and Michael Holborn [PRS] from Universal Production Music
Additional footage from:
Science@NASA:
https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/news-articles/on-the-cusp-of-understanding
JPL:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMZ5WFRbSTc
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab:
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/JHUAPL
Scientists
- Gina A. DiBraccio (NASA/GSFC)
- Norberto Romanelli (NASA/GSFC, University of Maryland, College Park)
Producers
- Anna Blaustein (NASA/GSFC)
- Miles S. Hatfield (Telophase)
Missions
This visualization is related to the following missions:Related pages
NASA’s New Views of Venus’ Surface From Space
Feb. 9th, 2022
Read morePRODUCED VIDEOMusic credits: “Tides” and “Subsurface” by Ben Niblett [PRS] and Jon Cotton [PRS] from Universal Production MusicComplete transcript available.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. PRODUCED VIDEO - NO CAPTIONS VIDEOAs Parker Solar Probe flew by Venus on its fourth flyby in February 2021, its WISPR instrument captured these images, strung into a video, showing the nightside surface of the planet. Credit: NASA/APL/NRL GIFAs Parker Solar Probe flew by Venus on its fourth flyby in February 2021, its WISPR instrument captured these images, strung into a video, showing the nightside surface of the planet. Credit: NASA/APL/NRL VIDEOWISPR images from Parker Solar Probe's fourth flyby of Venus align with topographical maps from NASA's Magallen mission. The Magellan mission mapped the surface of Venus with radar in the 1990s. The images gave the first global view of what was below Venus’ thick clouds. Credit: NASA/APL/NRL (left), Magellan Team/JPL/USGS (right) GIF WISPR images from Parker Solar Probe's fourth flyby of Venus align with topographical maps from NASA's Magallen mission. The Magellan mission mapped the surface of Venus with radar in the 1990s. The images gave the first global view of what was below Venus’ thick clouds. Credit: NASA/APL/NRL (left), Magellan Team/JPL/USGS (right) VIDEOThis composite shows the images from Parker Solar Probe’s fourth flyby of Venus superimposed on a radar map of Venus previously taken by NASA's Magellan mission. Credit: Magellan Team/JPL/USGS VIDEOOn July 11, 2020, Parker Solar Probe flew by Venus during the mission's third gravity assist of the planet and captured these images using its cameras known as WISPR. WISPR images align with topographical maps from NASA's Magallen mission. The Magellan mission mapped the surface of Venus with radar in the 1990s. The images gave the first global view of what was below Venus’ thick clouds. Credit: NASA/APL/NRL (black and white image), Magellan Team/JPL/USGS (color image) GIFOn July 11, 2020, Parker Solar Probe flew by Venus during the mission's third gravity assist of the planet and captured these images using its cameras known as WISPR. WISPR images align with topographical maps from NASA's Magallen mission. The Magellan mission mapped the surface of Venus with radar in the 1990s. The images gave the first global view of what was below Venus’ thick clouds. Credit: NASA/APL/NRL (black and white image), Magellan Team/JPL/USGS (color image) IMAGEWhen flying past Venus in July 2020, Parker Solar Probe’s WISPR instrument, short for Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe, detected a bright rim around the edge of the planet that may be nightglow — light emitted by oxygen atoms high in the atmosphere that recombine into molecules in the nightside. The prominent dark feature in the center of the image is Aphrodite Terra, the largest highland region on the Venusian surface. Bright streaks in WISPR, such as the ones seen here, are typically caused by a combination of charged particles — called cosmic rays — sunlight reflected by grains of space dust, and particles of material expelled from the spacecraft’s structures after impact with those dust grains. The number of streaks varies along the orbit or when the spacecraft is traveling at different speeds, and scientists are still in discussion about the specific origins of the streaks here. The dark spot appearing on the lower portion of Venus is an artifact from the WISPR instrument.Credit: NASA/APL/NRL IMAGEThe Magellan mission mapped the surface of Venus with radar in the 1990s. The images gave the first global view of what was below Venus’ thick clouds. This radar image aligns with the surface features seen on WISPR images captured by Parker Solar Probe during its third flyby of the planet in July 2020.Credit: Magellan Team/JPL/USGS IMAGEThe first visible light images of Venus were taken by the Soviet Union’s Venera program when spacecraft landed on the planet’s surface in the 1970s and 1980s. This image was captured by the Venera 9 and 10 spacecraft.Credit: NASA/NSSDCA/Courtesy of the USSR IMAGEThe first visible light images of Venus were taken by the Soviet Union’s Venera program when spacecraft landed on the planet’s surface in the 1970s and 1980s. This image was captured by the Venera 13 spacecraft.Credit: NASA/NSSDCA/Courtesy of the USSR IMAGEThe first visible light images of Venus were taken by the Soviet Union’s Venera program when spacecraft landed on the planet’s surface in the 1970s and 1980s. This image was captured by the left camera on the Venera 13 spacecraft.Credit: NASA/NSSDCA/Courtesy of the USSR IMAGEThe first visible light images of Venus were taken by the Soviet Union’s Venera program when spacecraft landed on the planet’s surface in the 1970s and 1980s. This image was captured by the right camera on the Venera 13 spacecraft.Credit: NASA/NSSDCA/Courtesy of the USSR IMAGEThe first visible light images of Venus were taken by the Soviet Union’s Venera program when spacecraft landed on the planet’s surface in the 1970s and 1980s. This image was captured by the Venera 14 spacecraft.Credit: NASA/NSSDCA/Courtesy of the USSR NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has taken its first visible light images of the surface of Venus from space. Smothered in thick clouds, Venus’ surface is usually shrouded from sight. But in two recent flybys of the planet, Parker used its Wide-Field Imager, or WISPR, to image the entire nightside in wavelengths of the visible spectrum – the type of light that the human eye can see – and extending into the near-infrared.The images, combined into a video, reveal a faint glow from the surface that shows distinctive features like continental regions, plains, and plateaus. A luminescent halo of oxygen in the atmosphere can also be seen surrounding the planet.Link to NASA.gov feature.Link to associated research paper. For More InformationSee [Research Paper](https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2021GL096302) Related pages
Mercury Makes Waves Cruising through the Solar Wind
Nov. 10th, 2021
Read moreMercury (black and white circle; black indicating the nightside) orbits the Sun. The Sun’s magnetic field is rendered in the gradient blue background, where dark blue (close to the Sun) indicates the strongest magnetic field and light blue (far from the Sun) indicates weakest. Mercury’s orbit is shown with a dotted white line. Mercury’s magnetosphere, the region of space influenced by the planet’s magnetic field, is rendered as a peach-colored parabola around the planet. The solar wind is modeled as tiny rays escaping from the Sun. As Mercury moves along its orbit, solar wind particles strike the front boundary of its magnetosphere, or foreshock. Some number of solar wind protons rebound from the foreshock, generating low-frequency plasma waves (green curved lines) that issue from the leading edge of Mercury’s foreshock. As Mercury moves along to the portion of its orbit farthest from the Sun, the rate of ULF waves increases. This far away portion is where the solar magnetic field is weakest. Full animation minus the color bar. Full animation minus the color bar and green ULF waves. Full animation minus the color bar, green ULF waves, solar wind particles, and Mercury’s foreshock/magnetosphere. Colorbar on transparent background. Still image. Mercury orbits the Sun in a unique regime. The solar wind is still fresh from the Sun, and the Sun’s magnetic field strength (which drops with the square of distance) is rapidly waning. Furthermore, Mercury’s highly elliptical orbit means the planet passes through a wider range of distances from the Sun than any other planet. As a result, Mercury provides a unique opportunity to study how the Sun’s influence on a planet varies with distance.These animations provide a conceptual schematic of the results of one such investigation as described in “Occurrence rate of ultra-low frequency waves in the foreshock of Mercury increases with heliocentric distance.” Using data from NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft, the authors has detected Ultra Low Frequency (ULF) waves rebounding from Mercury’s foreshock, the turbulent area where solar wind particles collide with Mercury’s magnetosphere. These waves are caused by solar wind protons – the steady stream of particles escaping the Sun –collide with and reflect off of this foreshock against the stream of the solar wind. The authors discovered that the ULF wave production rate varied throughout Mercury’s orbit. MESSENGER detected more ULF waves as Mercury moved farther from the Sun in its orbit, and fewer as it approached the Sun. The results support an existing theory that claimed that ULF waves are affected in part by the strength of the solar magnetic field, which is at its weakest when Mercury is farthest from the Sun. Related pages
Distant Planet May Be On Its Second Atmosphere, NASA’s Hubble Finds
March 11th, 2021
Read moreMaster VersionHorizontal version. This is for use on any YouTube or non-YouTube platform where you want to display the video horizontally. Vertical VersionThis vertical version of the episode is for IGTV or Snapchat. The IGTV episode can be pulled into Instagram Stories and the regular Instagram feed. Scientists using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have found evidence that a planet orbiting a distant star that may have lost its atmosphere but gained a second one through volcanic activity. The planet, GJ 1132 b, is hypothesized to have begun as a gaseous world with a thick hydrogen blanket of atmosphere. Starting out at several times the diameter of Earth, this so-called “sub-Neptune” is believed to have quickly lost its primordial hydrogen and helium atmosphere due to the intense radiation of the hot, young star it orbits. In a short period of time, such a planet would be stripped down to a bare core about the size of Earth. That’s when things got interesting.For more information, visit https://nasa.gov/hubble. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Paul Morris: Lead Producer Additional Visualizations:Artist’s impression of Exoplanet GJ 1132 b: Robert HurtAtmosphere escaping an exoplanet (artist’s impression): NASA, ESA, M. KornmesserArtist’s impression of WASP-107b: ESA/Hubble, NASA, M. KornmesserVideo animation of of Exoplanet GJ 1132 b: Robert HurtAerial of oozing red lava in Hawaii: ArtbeatsAerial from Puu Oo volcanic vents on Hawaii's Kilauea: ArtbeatsExovolcano Animation Background Only: Michael LentzIllustration depicting one interpretation of planet GJ 357 c: Chris SmithMusic Credits: "Planetary Exploration" by Richard Andrew Canavan [PRS] via Sound Pocket Music [PRS], and Universal Production Music. Related pages
Exploring Our Solar System with Dr. Amy Simon
Feb. 10th, 2021
Read moreMaster Version Horizontal version. This is for use on any YouTube or non-YouTube platform where you want to display the video horizontally. Vertical VersionThis vertical version of the episode is for IGTV or Snapchat. The IGTV episode can be pulled into Instagram Stories and the regular Instagram feed. Dr. Amy Simon has always been fascinated with space. From a young age she dreamed of lifting off in the Space Shuttle, just like her hero Sally Ride. Over the years her interest in space remained, and she eventually found herself working at NASA.Dr. Simon is the Senior Scientist for Planetary Atmospheres Research in the Solar System Exploration Division at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Her scientific research involves the study of the composition, dynamics, and cloud structure in jovian planet atmospheres, primarily from spacecraft observations like the Hubble Space Telescope.Dr. Simon is also involved in multiple robotic flight missions, as well as future mission concept development. She was a co-investigator on the Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) and is the Deputy Instrument Scientist for the OSIRIS-REx Visible and near-IR Spectrometer (OVIRS), as well as the Landsat 9 TIRS2 instrument, and the Lucy L'Ralph instrument Deputy PI. She is PI of the Hubble Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program. She recently served as science co-lead of the NASA Ice Giants Mission Concept study.This inspiring woman shows the world that anything is possible, and that you should always work hard to follow your passion in life.For more information, visit https://nasa.gov/hubble. Music Credits: "Falling Freet" by Christian Tschuggnall [AKM] and Michael Edwards [APRA] via Atmosphere Music Ltd. [PRS] and Universal Production Music.“Darwin’s Extraordinary Journey” by Laurent Dury [SACEM] via Koka Media [SACEM], Universal Publishing Production Music France [SACEM] and Universal Production Music. Related pages
Parker Science Result animations
Dec. 4th, 2019
Read moreThe dynamic solar wind Observed near Earth, the solar wind is a relatively uniform flow of plasma, with occasional turbulent tumbles. But by that point it’s traveled over ninety million miles — and the signatures of the Sun's exact mechanisms for heating and accelerating the solar wind are wiped out. Closer to the solar wind's source, Parker Solar Probe saw a much different picture: a complicated, active system. Credit: NASA Goddard/CIL/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez Top-down view of Switchback Magnetic FieldsParker indicated that the solar magnetic field embedded in the solar wind flips in the direction. These reversals — dubbed "switchbacks" — last anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes as they flow over Parker Solar Probe. During a switchback, the magnetic field whips back on itself until it is pointed almost directly back at the Sun.Credit: NASA Goddard/CIL/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez Switchback CloseupParker indicated that the solar magnetic field embedded in the solar wind flips in the direction. These reversals — dubbed "switchbacks" — last anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes as they flow over Parker Solar Probe. During a switchback, the magnetic field whips back on itself until it is pointed almost directly back at the Sun. The spacecraft's approximate location is represented as a dot icon. Credit: NASA Goddard/CIL/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez Artist interreptation of flying by the Earth, Sun and the Heliopause. Credit: NASA Goddard/CIL/Jonathan North Solar Magnetic FieldExactly where the solar wind transitions from a rotational flow to a perfectly radial flow has implications for how the Sun sheds energy. Parker located a transition region in the solar wind's flow. Finding that point may help us better understand the lifecycle of other stars or the formation of protoplanetary disks, the dense disks of gas and dust around young stars that eventually coalesce into planets. The spacecraft's approximate location is represented as a dot icon.Credit: NASA Goddard/CIL/Jonathan North On Dec. 4, 2019, four new papers in the journal Nature describe what scientists working with data from NASA's Parker Solar Probe have learned from this unprecedented exploration of our star — and what they look forward to learning next. These findings reveal new information about the behavior of the material and particles that speed away from the Sun, bringing scientists closer to answering fundamental questions about the physics of our star. These animations represent five of those findings. Related pages
Mercury Transit, 2019 (SDO 4K imagery)
Nov. 11th, 2019
Read moreMercury transit visible through the 171 angstrom filter on SDO. Mercury transit visible through the 193 angstrom filter on SDO. Mercury transit visible through the 304 angstrom filter on SDO. Mercury transit visible through the HMI instrument on SDO. These are full resolution (4Kx4K) images of Mercury transit as seen by Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Related pages
Searching for Signs of Life on Mars
May 24th, 2018
Read moreThe European Space Agency's Rosalind Franklin rover will search for signs of life on Mars, using a NASA-built instrument called MOMA. Complete transcript available.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Music provided by Killer Tracks: "Fast Motion" by Stephen Daniel Lemaire, "Game Show Spheres 5-6" by Anselm Kreuzer, "Floating" by Ben Niblett & Jon Cotton A model of the MOMA mass spectrometer, with the Rosalind Franklin rover in the background. One of the biggest questions in planetary science is whether life ever arose on Mars, and NASA and the European Space Agency are sending a cutting-edge instrument to the red planet to find out. The Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer, or MOMA, is a sophisticated suite of technologies that squeezes a lab full of chemistry equipment into a package the size of a toaster. MOMA will travel to Mars aboard ESA's Rosalind Franklin rover (formerly ExoMars), where it will search for evidence of past or present life.MOMA will not only search for organic molecules, which make up all life on Earth, it will also analyze their structure using its linear ion trap – the first use of this technology on Mars. Doing so will help scientists to determine whether the molecules could be of biological origin, a significant leap forward in the search for life beyond Earth.MOMA's mass spectrometer subsystem and main electronics were built at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The pulsed UV laser and high-temperature ovens were developed in Germany, and the gas chromatograph in France. The Rosalind Franklin rover is a component of ExoMars, the primary Mars exploration program of the European Space Agency. Learn more at nasa.gov or download animations of MOMA. For More InformationSee [NASA.gov](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/moma) Related pages
Where is the Edge of the Solar System?
Sept. 5th, 2017
Read moreComplete transcript available.Music credit: Dream Girl 3 by Yuri Sazonoff Where does the solar system end? It all depends on the criteria you are using. Based on where the planets end, you could say it's Neptune and the Kuiper Belt. If you measure by edge of the sun's magnetic fields, the end is the heliosphere. If you judge by the stopping point of sun's gravitational influence, the solar system would end at the Oort Cloud. Related pages
Mercury Transit May 9, 2016
April 24th, 2016
Read moreMercury transiting the Sun This animation shows the May 9, 2016 transit of Mercury across the face of the Sun. Related pages