Variations in the solar wind stand‐off distance at Mercury

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Abstract
The intrinsic dipole model of the magnetosphere of Mercury is combined with statistics on the solar wind dynamic pressure from Explorers 33 and 35 to obtain histograms of the solar wind stand‐off distance for aphelion, perihelion and median distance of Mercury from the sun. The results show that even at perihelion the stand‐off distance lies above the surface the great majority of the time. On rare occasions, direct impact of the solar wind onto the surface will occur.