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Bruce Murray Space Image Library

Mercury's interior

Mercury's interior
Mercury's interior Increases in solar wind pressure at Mercury induce currents on the surface of the iron core (blue-green) that reinforce the dayside dipolar magnetic flux (yellow) emanating from the deeper dynamo region. b) Reconnection at the magnetopause transfers magnetic flux from all sources into the tail where it drives the Dungey cycle. Competition between induction and reconnection determines the amount of solar wind reaching the surface. Slavin et al., 2014