Anderson Brian J, Acuña Mario H, Korth Haje, Purucker Michael E, Johnson Catherine L, Slavin James A, Solomon Sean C, McNutt Ralph L
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723, USA.
Science. 2008 Jul 4;321(5885):82-5. doi: 10.1126/science.1159081.
During its first flyby of Mercury, the MESSENGER spacecraft measured the planet's near-equatorial magnetic field. The field strength is consistent to within an estimated uncertainty of 10% with that observed near the equator by Mariner 10. Centered dipole solutions yield a southward planetary moment of 230 to 290 nanotesla RM3 (where RM is Mercury's mean radius) tilted between 5 degrees and 12 degrees from the rotation axis. Multipole solutions yield non-dipolar contributions of 22% to 52% of the dipole field magnitude. Magnetopause and tail currents account for part of the high-order field, and plasma pressure effects may explain the remainder, so that a pure centered dipole cannot be ruled out.
信使号航天器在首次飞越水星期间测量了该行星的近赤道磁场。场强与水手10号在赤道附近观测到的场强一致，估计不确定性在10%以内。中心偶极子解得出的行星向南磁矩为230至290纳特斯拉·RM³（其中RM是水星的平均半径），相对于自转轴倾斜5度至12度。多极子解得出的非偶极子贡献占偶极子场大小的22%至52%。磁层顶电流和尾电流构成了高阶场的一部分，等离子体压力效应可能解释了其余部分，因此不能排除纯中心偶极子的存在。
