BepiColombo’s journey through Mercury’s magnetosphere
This simple animation shows the trajectory of the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo spacecraft through Mercury’s magnetosphere during the third Mercury flyby on 19 June 2023.
Mercury is shown with magnetic field lines compressed on the sunward side and streaming out into a tail on the nightside. The spacecraft trajectory is marked in orange; it approached from the dusk side of the planet and moved towards the dawn side, passing the planet’s surface as close as 235 km.
It only spent around 30 minutes inside the magnetosphere, but was able to glean a wealth of information about the magnetic, particle and plasma environment along its path during this short period of time.
[Image description: Rotating sphere representing planet Mercury shown with magnetic field lines compressed on the sunward side and streaming out into a tail on the nightside. A line passing through the magnetic field lines from dusk to dawn and close to the planet’s surface shows BepiColombo’s trajectory during its third close flyby of the planet.]
