Expected emission from mercury's exospheric species and their ultraviolet-visible signatures

Abstract

Solar photon scattering probabilities (g values) have been calculated for discrete transitions in 12 species, in a format designed primarily to allow analysis of spacecraft observations from MESSENGER and BepiColombo at Mercury. The results support observations using the MESSENGER Ultraviolet and Visible Spectrometer spectrograph experiment operating over the spectral range 1150-6000 Â and the BepiColombo spectrograph in the range 550-3150 Â. Significant radial velocity dependence is shown for most of the emission lines, a critical factor for interpretation of the observed spectra. The g values have general application for solar system emission sources dominated by scattering of the solar flux. © 2009. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.