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So Mercury is special not just because it's the closest planet

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to the Sun but also because the distance it is

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from the Sun varies more than any other planet in our solar system.

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Mercury actually has a very oval-shaped orbit compared to the rest.

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Mercury is a natural laboratory for running experiments.

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We can observe the planet's surroundings as it gets closer and farther away from the Sun

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and see what changes.

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When solar wind particles bounce off this magnetospheric boundary,

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they generate low-frequency waves.

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They're like ripples traveling upstream in the solar wind.

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Farther from the Sun, the Sun's magnetic field is weaker.

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We found that this is the key parameter
that allows more waves to be generated.

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This is something we could only have measured with Mercury,

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thanks to how close it is to the Sun

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and the shape of its orbit.