CERTIFIED
























Description of The Data

The data are observations of Mercury’s sodium exosphere taken between 2011 and 2013 by Andrew Potter and Rosemary Killen. They overlap with the orbital phase of the MESSENGER mission and they contain both continuum and D2 emission. The data are stored in FITS files with an associated XML label.

Evaluating the Data

Each file has a corresponding browse file (see example above, which displays the date of observation). The URNs for the data file and the browse file take the following form
urn:nasa:pds:mcmath-pierce_mercury:data_calibrated:2011_01_08_a
urn:nasa:pds:mcmath-pierce_mercury:browse:2011_01_08_a_browse

For information concerning data processing see the User’s Guide.

Accessing the data

An Index, which includes both calibrated files and browse files, is provided and individual files can be retrieved by submitting a list of desired URNs.

An alternate approach is to download the bundle.

Citing the data

Cassidy, T., Merkel, A., Potter, A., Killen, R. (2020), KPNO McMath-Pierce Observations of Mercury, NASA Planetary Data System, doi:10.17189/r3b4-kd17.