Mercury’s magnetosphere during BepiColombo’s third flyby (unannotated)

The ESA/JAXA BepiColombo spacecraft sped through the magnetosphere of Mercury on 19 June 2023 during its third of six flybys at the planet. Using data collected by the JAXA-led Mercury Magnetospheric Obiter’s Mass Spectrum Analyser (MSA), Mercury Ion Analyser (MIA), and Mercury Electron Analyser (MEA), and combining these measurements with a computer model to determine the origin of detected ions based on their motion, various features encountered along the trajectory of the spacecraft were revealed.

Click here for a labelled version of this graphic with detailed explanation. 

[Image description: A textured sphere representing Mercury is shown with magnetic field lines compressed on the sunward side and streaming out into a tail on the nightside. The BepiColombo spacecraft’s trajectory is drawn passing through the magnetosphere from dawn to dusk, close to the planet’s surface.]