Flux of meteoroid impacts on Mercury

Abstract

In this work we present a new estimate of the meteoroid flux on Mercury. The flux has been obtained as a result of material delivery from both the 3:1 and v6 resonances, and calibrated on the basis of the Earth meteoroid flux. Our model does not take into account non-gravitational forces, like the Poynting-Robertson effect, and for this reason it is suitable for bodies having dimension greater than about 1 cm. We also analyse the dependence of the predicted impactor flux on Mercury on meteoroid size. Possible asymmetries of the meteoroid flux over the surface (morning/evening hemispheres) and along the orbit (perihelion/aphelion) are also discussed.