Source of electron acceleration and X-ray aurora of Mercury ̶ local chorus waves detected

Since Mercury is the closest planet to the sun among the solar system planets, it is strongly influenced by the solar wind, a high-speed (several hundred km/s) stream of plasma blowing from the sun. Explorations of Mercury were first carried out by the Mariner 10 spacecraft in 1974 and 1975, which revealed that Mercury has a magnetic field, and thus a magnetosphere, similar to that of Earth.