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"But even so, you are limited by the sodium in Earth's atmosphere," said Baumgardner. Earth's own sodium glow is itself created by the steady supply of meteors that burn up in the atmosphere, he explained. To better understand how Mercury's tail is created, Baumgardner's team also made close-up sodium-glow images of Mercury. This revealed that the planet has two sodium hot spots, both at high latitudes. These could be the product of the planet's mineralogy, topography or have something to do with how the planet's magnetic field channels in particles from the sun--similar to how Earth does the same thing and creates aurora light shows near the poles. The secrets of these hotspots are likely to be revealed by the Messenger spacecraft, said Sprague. Messenger made a close flyby of the planet in January and is scheduled to settle into orbit in the year March, 2011. A large part of Messenger's mission will be to map out the mineral composition of the swiftly moving planet. Mercury is not the only heavenly body with a sodium tail, Baumgardner points out. Neutral sodium is also seen streaming from the moon and forming a haze around Jupiter from the sodium blasted off of its tiny and hyper-volcanic moon, Io. It's also seen blowing from comets. Because of its association with rocky bodies in our solar system, it's conceivable that someday such tails could help planet hunters identify rocky worlds orbiting other stars, said Sprague. "It's a stepping stone to understanding other planets," Sprague said.
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