BepiColombo ’s June 2023 flyby of Mercury put the ballistic capsule on the correct trajectory to get in orbital cavity around the smallest major planet , and it was also a luck to test its science instruments . Even with such a brief window of time , researchers were able to get unbelievable insights into the planet ’s magnetosphere .

Mercury ’s magnetic field is complex and dramatically affected by being so close to the Sun . BepiColombois actually two orbiters in one missionary work : the European Space Agency - result Mercury Planetary Orbiter ( MPO ) and the Japanese Space Agency - top Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter ( MMO , or Mio ) . Dr Lina Hadid , the Colorado - investigator of the Mercury Plasma Particle Experiment ( MPPE ) suite of instruments active on Mio , used the flyby on June 19 to get some readings of the satellite .

“ These flybys are immobile ; we crossed Mercury ’s magnetosphere in about 30 minutes , moving from twilight to sunrise and at a closest approach of just 235 km [ 146 mile ] above the satellite ’s surface , ” Dr Hadid , who is the jumper cable of MPPE ’s Mass Spectrum Analyser , said in astatement . “ We sampled the eccentric of corpuscle , how live they are , and how they move , enabling us to clearly diagram the magnetic landscape during this abbreviated period . ”

The data collected over those precious minutes revealed that a lot of our anticipation for the magnetosphere matched reality , but there were a few intriguing bits that the team did not expect to see .

“ We saw expect body structure like the ‘ jounce ’ boundary between the free - flow solar wind and the magnetosphere , and we also elapse through the ‘ horn ’ flanking the plasma sheet of paper , a part of hotter , denser electrically file accelerator pedal that streams out like a fanny in the direction away from the Sun . But we also had some surprise , " Dr Hadid explain .

“ We detected a so - called low - latitude boundary level defined by a neighborhood of turbulent blood plasma at the edge of the magnetosphere , and here we observe particles with a much across-the-board kitchen range of energies than we ’ve ever seen before at Mercury , in large thanks to the sensitiveness of the Mass Spectrum Analyser designed especially for Mercury ’s complex environment , ” the former instrument lead Dominique Delcourt added . “ BepiColombo will be able to find the ion opus of Mercury ’s magnetosphere in greater item than ever . ”

“ We also observe energetic hot ions near the equatorial plane and at miserable parallel of latitude trapped in the magnetosphere , and we call back the only path to explicate that is by a mob current , either a fond or complete ring , but this is an sphere that is much contend , ” Hadid keep abreast .

Such a ring stream is present around Earth , tens of grand of kilometers from the surface , where particle trapped in the magnetosphere carry an electric current in a donut - shape volume around the planet . It is not clear how Mercury has one — something for Mio and MPO to find out in a few years .

BepiColombo had alittle thruster problemearlier this class and to make certain that it reached its orbit around Mercury safely , the team had to conduct adaring maneuverand time lag arrival . Getting to Mercury without expend a sight of fuel is well-situated say than done , but slowly and surely this spacecraft isgetting there .

The research is published inNature Communications Physics .