- 1University of Helsinki, Department of Physics, Helsinki, Finland (emilia.kilpua@helsinki.fi)
- 2Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, Finland
- 3Department of Physics, Aberystwyth University, Ceredigion, Cymru, SY23 3BZ, UK
- 4INAF-Istituto di Astro sica e Planetologia Spaziali, Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Rome, Italy
- 5Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany
The closest planet to the Sun, Mercury, is subject to particularly intense fluxes of solar energetic particles (SEPs). Its relatively weak magnetic field and small magnetosphere offer some protection againts these particles, deflecting them away before they can reach the surface. The effectiveness of this shielding could be probed in detailed during BepiColombo’s fourth (4 September 2024) and sixth (8 January 2025) flybys when and SEP events happened to be ongoing and the planet was immersed in high fluxes of energetic particles. During the fourth flyby, BepiColombo reached only 165 kilometres from the Mercury’s surface. In this presentation we analysis high energy electron and proton observations provided by the Solar Intensity X-ray and Particle Spectrometer SIXS. The data reveal a deep drop out in energetic particles fluxes due planetry shadowing. In addition, these unique measurements reveal that variations in particle fluxes depend clearly on particle type, direction and energy.
How to cite: Kilpua, E., Vainio, R., Grande, M., Edwards, L., Esko, E., Laurenza, M., Lehtolainen, A., Oleynik, P., Palmroos, C., Liu, S. J., Massetti, S., and Heyner, D.: Planetary shadowing and Solar Energetic Particles during the fourth and sixth BepiColomo Mercury Flybys, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-17383, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-17383, 2025.
