Evidence item

The evidence is from one 4 September 2024 Mercury flyby at 165-km altitude, with modeled proton trajectories and electron-loss-cone interpretation during ongoing SEP activity. DIRECT_TEXT

Authenticity UNVERIFIED · extraction UNVERIFIED · independence group none (unreviewed) · created seq 26003

Source: Planetary shielding and surface precipitation of solar energetic particles during BepiColombo’s close Mercury flyby · locator {} · excerpt hash sha256:b38a0c167f2fc2ddbd329449e4b914ac5654f69c9c3c75dd2d2953f0781e6f31

Exact excerpt

We have analysed observations from the fourth Mercury flyby of the BepiColombo mission on 4 September 2024. During this flyby, BepiColombo approached only within 165 km of Mercury’s surface ... These unique observations from the SIXS-P particle detector, combined with modelling of allowed and forbidden proton trajectories, provide direct evidence for planetary shadowing of high-energy protons at Mercury. Although the sharp electron dropout is likely associated with changes in magnetic topology, the presence of a wide loss cone and sustained fluxes during ongoing SEP activity suggests continuous precipitation over a large fraction of the flyby.

Linked claims

Claim	Direction	Relevance	Steps	Counted
4302609b	QUALIFY	DIRECT	0	yes

Audits

None.