| Issue |
A&A
Volume 431, Number 3, March I 2005
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 1123 - 1127 | |
| Section | Planets and planetary systems | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20041800 | |
| Published online | 16 February 2005 | |
Flux of meteoroid impacts on Mercury
1
Dipartimento di Astronomia, Vicolo dell'Osservatorio 2, 35122 Padova, Italy e-mail: marchi@pd.astro.it
2
Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, Nice, France e-mail: alessandro.morbidelli@obs-nice.fr
3
INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, 35122 Padova, Italy e-mail: cremonese@pd.astro.it
Received:
5
August
2004
Accepted:
18
October
2004
In this work we present a new estimate of the meteoroid
flux on Mercury. The flux has been obtained as a result of
material delivery from both the 3:1 and 
resonances, and
calibrated on the basis of the Earth meteoroid flux. Our model
does not take into account non-gravitational forces, like the
Poynting-Robertson effect, and for this reason it is suitable for
bodies having dimension greater than about 1 cm. We also analyse
the dependence of the predicted impactor flux on Mercury on
meteoroid size. Possible asymmetries of the meteoroid flux over
the surface (morning/evening hemispheres) and along the orbit
(perihelion/aphelion) are also discussed.
Key words: planets and satellites: individual: Earth / planets and satellites: individual: Mercury / meteors, meteoroids
© ESO, 2005
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