MIT Libraries logoDSpace@MIT

MIT
View Item 
  • DSpace@MIT Home
  • MIT Open Access Articles
  • MIT Open Access Articles
  • View Item
  • DSpace@MIT Home
  • MIT Open Access Articles
  • MIT Open Access Articles
  • View Item
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

The gravity field, orientation, and ephemeris of Mercury from MESSENGER observations after three years in orbit

Author(s)
Mazarico, Erwan Matias; Genova, Antonio; Goossens, Sander; Lemoine, Frank G.; Neumann, Gregory A.; Solomon, Sean C.; Zuber, Maria; Smith, David Edmund; ... Show more Show less
Thumbnail
DownloadZuber_The gravity.pdf (3.773Mb)
PUBLISHER_CC

Publisher with Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution

Terms of use
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
We have analyzed 3 years of radio tracking data from the MESSENGER spacecraft in orbit around Mercury and determined the gravity field, planetary orientation, and ephemeris of the innermost planet. With improvements in spatial coverage, force modeling, and data weighting, we refined an earlier global gravity field both in quality and resolution, and we present here a spherical harmonic solution to degree and order 50. In this field, termed HgM005, uncertainties in low-degree coefficients are reduced by an order of magnitude relative to earlier global fields, and we obtained a preliminary value of the tidal Love number k[subscript 2] of 0.451 ± 0.014. We also estimated Mercury's pole position, and we obtained an obliquity value of 2.06 ± 0.16 arcmin, in good agreement with analysis of Earth-based radar observations. From our updated rotation period (58.646146 ± 0.000011 days) and Mercury ephemeris, we verified experimentally the planet's 3:2 spin-orbit resonance to greater accuracy than previously possible. We present a detailed analysis of the HgM005 covariance matrix, and we describe some near-circular frozen orbits around Mercury that could be advantageous for future exploration.
Date issued
2014-12
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97927
Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets
Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Citation
Mazarico, Erwan, Antonio Genova, Sander Goossens, Frank G. Lemoine, Gregory A. Neumann, Maria T. Zuber, David E. Smith, and Sean C. Solomon. “The Gravity Field, Orientation, and Ephemeris of Mercury from MESSENGER Observations after Three Years in Orbit.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets 119, no. 12 (December 2014): 2417–2436.
Version: Final published version
ISSN
21699097
2169-9100

Collections
  • MIT Open Access Articles

Browse

All of DSpaceCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

My Account

Login

Statistics

OA StatisticsStatistics by CountryStatistics by Department
MIT Libraries
PrivacyPermissionsAccessibilityContact us
MIT
Content created by the MIT Libraries, CC BY-NC unless otherwise noted. Notify us about copyright concerns.