Observation of Mercury planet Sodium tail
Posted: Tue May 18, 2021 11:28 pm
Detection of Sodium tail from Mercury's exosphere, the May 17, 2021, by using a very low cost instrumentation, the Star'Ex spectrograph (1200 l/mm grating) on a 8-inch Newton telescope. About Star'Ex see:
http://www.astrosurf.com/solex/sol-ex-stars-en.html.
The result:
The sodium tail can detected on the anti-sunward side of the planet. Note also the presence of Earth airglow (mesosphere sodium emission at 90 km altitude, visible during twilight). Note also the small Doppler shift between the Mercury and Earth doublet emission at 5890-5896 A.
Christian Buil
http://www.astrosurf.com/solex/sol-ex-stars-en.html.
The result:
The sodium tail can detected on the anti-sunward side of the planet. Note also the presence of Earth airglow (mesosphere sodium emission at 90 km altitude, visible during twilight). Note also the small Doppler shift between the Mercury and Earth doublet emission at 5890-5896 A.
Christian Buil