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Thermophysics of the planet Mercury

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Abstract

Recent observations of the thermal emission of Mercury at microwave and infrared frequencies now permit a determination of the thermal and electrical properties of the subsurface of the planet. Radar and optical measurements show that the rotation period is 58.65 days, 2/3 of the orbital period. Several negative spectrographic searches verify that the effects of an atmosphere need not be taken into account in computing surface and subsurface temperatures. The observed thermal emission from the planet can then be interpreted from models similar to those developed for study of the Moon but adapted to the peculiar diurnal insolation of Mercury. The observations of Epstein et al. (1970) at 3.3 mm and of Klein (1970a) at 3.75 cm, when interpreted together with recent laboratory measurements of thermal properties of terrestrial and lunar rock powders, indicate that the ratio of electrical to thermal skin depth is 0.9 ± 0.3 times the wavelength in centimeters. Further results of this analysis of the subsurface are: Density = 1.5 ± 0.4 g cm-3; Electric loss tangent = 0.009 ± 0.004; Inverse thermal inertia = (15 ± 6) × 10−6 erg-1 cm2 s1/2 K; Equatorial midnight temperature = 100 ± 15K.

The microwave data generally conform to the predictions of the thermophysical models of Mercury developed by Morrison and Sagan (1967), including a suggestion that variations having mean periods of 50 days and 35 days are present in addition to the classical phase effect with period about 116 days. The time-averaged microwave temperature of the planet appears to increase ∼ 25 % from millimeter to decimeter wavelengths; this increase suggests that radiation plays an important role in the transport of heat in the subsurface. All of the conclusions of this review indicate that the thermophysical behavior of Mercury closely approximates that expected for the Moon, were it placed in the orbit of Mercury.

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  1. Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 96822, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

    David Morrison

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Morrison, D. Thermophysics of the planet Mercury. Space Sci Rev 11, 271–307 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00241524

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