SIXS-P energetic particle observations and modelling results for the fourth Mercury flyby

This dataset accompanies the publication “Planetary Shielding and Surface Precipitation of Solar Energetic Particles During BepiColombo’s Close Mercury Flyby” gathered during BepiColombo’s fourth Mercury flyby on 4 September 2024. It contains calibrated electron flux measurements and derived spectral indices from the SIXS-P instrument onboard Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), results of the Korth-Tsyganenko-Heyner (KTH), 2022 model, including the calculated electron pitch angles, and the results of the Toffoletto & Hill model runs. 10-second averaged data for the combined SIXS-P proton channels (Time in UT: yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:sec, P1+P2: 1.15 MeV, P2+P3: 1.40 MeV, P3+P4: 1.75 MeV, P4+P5: 2.85 MeV, P5+P6: 4.63 MeV,P6+P7: 9.43 MeV, P7+P8: 17.54 MeV): mercury_flyby4_side0_10s_combined_p.txt mercury_flyby4_side1_10s_combined_p.txt mercury_flyby4_side2_10s_combined_p.txt: 10-second averaged data for the SIXS-P proton and electron channels (Time in UT: yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:sec, P1: 1.09 MeV, P2: 1.19 MeV, P3: 1.51 MeV, P4: 2.26 MeV, P5: 3.94 MeV, P6: 8.02 MeV, P7: 14.3 MeV, P8: 24.9 MeV, P9: 53 MeV; E1: 0.07 MeV, E2: 0.11 MeV, E3: 0.17 MeV, E4: 0.28 MeV, E5: 0.92 MeV, E6: 2.12 MeV, E7: 7.01 MeV) mercury_flyby4_side0_10s.txt mercury_flyby4_side1_10s.txt mercury_flyby4_side2_10s.txt Spectral index (gamma), standard deviations and variations for three detector sides (Time in UT: hh:mm:sec, Side 0 Gamma,Side 0 Gamma Var,Side 0 Gamma Std,Side 1 Gamma,Side 1 Gamma Var,Side 1 Gamma Std,Side 2 Gamma,Side 2 Gamma Var,Side 2 Gamma Std): mfb4_spectral_index_over_time_60s.txt KTH22 magnetic field modelling results for Disturbance Index (DI) 27 and calculated Electron pitch angles for three detector sides (Time in UT: yyyy-mm-dd, hh:mm:sec, magnetic field X-, Y- and Z- components in nT, magnetic field magnitude in nT, pitch angle in degrees): MFB4_side0_pitch_angles_DI27_alpha.txt MFB4_side1_pitch_angles_DI27_alpha.txt MFB4_side2_pitch_angles_DI27_alpha.txt BepiColombo distance in a cartesian Mercury Solar Orbital (MSO) system, KTH22 magnetic field modelling results for Disturbance Index (DI) 27 and the calculated mirror ration values (Time in UT: yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:sec, X-, Y- and Z-coordinates of BepiColombo in km, magnetic field X-, Y- and Z- components in nT, magnetic field magnitude in nT, mirror ratio) mfb4_KTH22-V10_mirror_ratios_DI27_alpha.txt Toffolett-Hill model runs (P1P2directions_2149_case6.txt etc): The file names contain information about: 1) the energetic channels used in the simulations (i.e. “P1P2” indicates that the combination of P1+P2 was considered; “P7P8” indicates that the combination of P7+P8 was considered); 2) the time for which the simulations were computed (i.e., 21:49 UTC, 21:55 UTC, 22:01 UTC) corresponding to a specific position of BepiColombo in the Hermean environment; 3) the assumed magnetic field and solar wind parameters, indicated by the label “case6”. The magnetic field measurements provided by MPO / MAG were used in the simulations. In particular, on 4 September 08:00 - 08:40 UTC, when BepiColombo was at radial distance 8-6 R_M (i.e clearly outside the bow shock), the interplanetary magnetic field values are: Bx = +65,5 nT, By = -27.2 nT and Bz = +11,86 nT. For the solar wind we used the nominal values for the density (Dsw= 60 1\cm^3) and velocity (Vsw= 400 km\s). Each file contains 4 columns: 1) the zenith angle; 2) the azimuth angle; 3) the number of simulated allowed directions computed at the BepiColombo position (e.g., 21:49 UT for the file P1P2directions_2149_case6.txt) for a number of energies (55 for P1+P2, 51 for P7+P8) ; 4) the percentage of allowed trajectories for the considered directions and channels.