Mercury probe and sun spacecraft provide new info about Venus

In spite of occasionally stopping at other planets en route, space exploration expeditions always have a specific objective in mind.

Two spacecraft will fly by Venus within a day of one another in August 2021: Solar Orbiter, which is travelling to the sun, and BepiColombo, which is bound to Mercury. Astronomers have had a unique look into Venus' magnetic field thanks to their combined measurements, which were just published in the journal Nature Communications(opens in new tab).

According to astronomer Moa Persson of the University of Tokyo, who is the study's primary author, "BepiColombo had an excellent picture of the diverse zones within the magnetosheath and magnetosphere."

One of the main factors influencing why life has thrived on Earth is its magnetic field. The solar wind, or stream of high-energy particles from the sun, is redirected by magnetic fields, preserving the planet's delicate atmosphere. Venus isn't quite as fortunate since, unlike Earth, it lacks a magnetic field formed deep within its core.

Venus does, however, have what is referred to as a "induced" magnetic field, in which the solar wind interacts with charged particles in the planet's atmosphere to produce a magnetosphere. The solar wind was seen by Solar Orbiter when it travelled through Venus just outside of its magnetosphere. BepiColombo whizzed through the "stagnation region," where the solar wind and atmosphere are anticipated to interact, at the same moment.

Together, the probes' discoveries gave experimental proof that this area does, in fact, slow down charged particles, defending Venus' atmosphere from solar wind degradation.

Since scientists now know there is a mechanism for exoplanets without an internal magnetic field to keep their atmospheres like Venus does, and thus maybe even support life, this discovery is also significant for worlds outside of our solar system.