Search Publications
Evidence for two populations of classical transneptunian objects: The strong inclination dependence of classical binaries
Noll, Keith S.; Grundy, William M.; Levison, Harold F. +2 more
We have searched 101 Classical transneptunian objects for companions with the Hubble Space Telescope. Of these, at least 21 are binary. The heliocentric inclinations of the objects we observed range from 0.6°-34°. We find a very strong anticorrelation of binaries with inclination. Of the 58 targets that have inclinations of less than 5.5°, 17 are …
Climate, weather, and north polar observations from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Color Imager
Bell, James F.; Thomas, Peter C.; Wolff, Michael J. +7 more
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter observes Mars from a nearly circular, polar orbit. From this vantage point, the Mars Color Imager extends the ∼5 Mars years record of Mars Global Surveyor global, visible-wavelength multi-color observations of meteorological events and adds measurements at three additional visible and two ultraviolet wavelengths. Ob…
(42355) Typhon Echidna: Scheduling observations for binary orbit determination
Muinonen, K.; Spencer, J. R.; Grundy, W. M. +6 more
We describe a strategy for scheduling astrometric observations to minimize the number required to determine the mutual orbits of binary transneptunian systems. The method is illustrated by application to Hubble Space Telescope observations of (42355) Typhon-Echidna, revealing that Typhon and Echidna orbit one another with a period of 18.971±0.006 …
Triaxial ellipsoid dimensions and rotational poles of seven asteroids from Lick Observatory adaptive optics images, and of Ceres
Drummond, Jack; Christou, Julian
Seven main belt asteroids, 2 Pallas, 3 Juno, 4 Vesta, 16 Psyche, 87 Sylvia, 324 Bamberga, and 707 Interamnia, were imaged with the adaptive optics system on the 3 m Shane telescope at Lick Observatory in the near infrared, and their triaxial ellipsoid dimensions and rotational poles have been determined with parametric blind deconvolution. In addi…
Cometary cryo-volcanism: Source regions and a model for the UT 2005 June 14 and other mini-outbursts on Comet 9P/Tempel 1
Feldman, Paul D.; A'Hearn, Michael F.; Belton, Michael J. S. +1 more
Data on the UT 2005 June 14 mini-outburst of Comet 9P/Tempel 1 taken from different viewpoints have been examined for morphological differences and parallax. The data were taken with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), from the Deep Impact (DI) spacecraft, and from the Calar Alto Observatory, Spain. The mini-outburst source region was found to be lo…
The methane abundance and structure of Uranus' cloud bands inferred from spatially resolved 2006 Keck grism spectra
Sromovsky, L. A.; Fry, P. M.
Grism spectra of Uranus obtained at the Keck Observatory in 2006, using the NIRC2 instrument and adaptive optics, provide new constraints on the vertical structure of Uranus' cloud bands and on the volume mixing ratio of methane. The best model fits to H-band spectra (1.49-1.635 µm) are found for a methane volume mixing ratio of 1.0 ± 0.25% …
Jupiter's polar clouds and waves from Cassini and HST images: 1993 2006
Hueso, R.; Sánchez-Lavega, A.; Pérez-Hoyos, S. +1 more
For a variety of reasons, Jupiter's polar areas are probably the less observed regions of the planet. To study the dynamics and cloud vertical structure in the polar regions of the planet (latitudes 50° to 80° in both hemispheres) we have used images of Jupiter obtained from the ultraviolet to near infrared (258 to 939 nm) by the Cassini Imagining…
Properties and dynamics of Jupiter's gossamer rings from Galileo, Voyager, Hubble and Keck images
de Pater, Imke; Hamilton, Douglas P.; Showalter, Mark R. +2 more
We present a comprehensive examination of Jupiter's "gossamer" rings based on images from Voyager, Galileo, the Hubble Space Telescope and the W.M. Keck Telescope. We compare our results to the simple dynamical model of Burns et al. [Burns, J.A., Showalter, M.R., Hamilton, D.P., Nicholson, P.D., de Pater, I., Ockert-Bell, M., Thomas, P., 1999. Sci…
The variation of Io's auroral footprint brightness with the location of Io in the plasma torus
Clarke, John T.; Serio, Andrew W.
Ultraviolet and near-infrared observations of auroral emissions from the footprint of Io's magnetic Flux Tube (IFT) mapping to Jupiter's ionosphere have been interpreted via a combination of the unipolar inductor model [Goldreich, P., Lynden-Bell, D., 1969. Astrophys. J. 156, 59-78] and the multiply-reflected Alfvén wave model [ Belcher, J.W., 198…
HST spectral imaging of Titan's haze and methane profile between 0.6 and 1 µm during the 2000 opposition
Young, E. F.; Anderson, C. M.; McKay, C. P. +1 more
We report on the analysis of high spatial resolution visible to near-infrared spectral images of Titan at L=240° in November 2000, obtained with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph instrument on board the Hubble Space Telescope as part of program GO-8580. We employ a radiative transfer fractal particle aerosol model with a Bayesian parameter …