Search Publications
Investigation into the disparate origin of CO2 and H2O outgassing for Comet 67/P
Piccioni, Giuseppe; De Sanctis, Maria Cristina; Filacchione, Gianrico +15 more
We present an investigation of the emission intensity of CO2 and H2O and their distribution in the coma of 67P/ Churyumov-Gerasimenko obtained by the VIRTIS-M imaging spectrometer on the Rosetta mission. We analyze 4 data cubes from Feb. 28, and 7 data cubes from April 27, 2015. For both data sets the spacecraft was at a suff…
Orbital and physical characteristics of meter-scale impactors from airburst observations
Brown, P.; Clark, D.; Wiegert, P. +1 more
We have analyzed the orbits and ablation characteristics in the atmosphere of 59 Earth-impacting fireballs, produced by meteoroids 1 m in diameter or larger, described here as meter-scale. Using heights at peak luminosity as a proxy for strength, we determine that there is roughly an order of magnitude spread in strengths of the population of mete…
Observations and modeling of northern mid-latitude recurring slope lineae (RSL) suggest recharge by a present-day martian briny aquifer
Michaels, Timothy I.; Hanley, Jennifer; Grimm, Robert E. +1 more
Recurring slope lineae (RSL) are narrow (0.5-5 m) dark features on Mars that incrementally lengthen down steep slopes, fade in colder seasons, and recur annually. These features have been identified from the northern to southern mid-latitudes. Here, we describe how observations of northern mid-latitude RSL in northern Chryse Planitia and southwest…
The B-ring's surface mass density from hidden density waves: Less than meets the eye?
Nicholson, P. D.; Hedman, M. M.
Saturn's B ring is the most opaque ring in our Solar System, but many of its fundamental parameters, including its total mass, are not well constrained. Spiral density waves generated by mean-motion resonances with Saturn's moons provide some of the best constraints on the rings' mass density, but detecting and quantifying such waves in the B ring…
Daily global mapping of Mars ozone column abundances with MARCI UV band imaging
Smith, Michael D.; Wolff, Michael J.; Lefèvre, Franck +3 more
Since November of 2006, The Mars Color Imager (MARCI) onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has obtained multiple-filter daily global images of Mars centered upon a local time (LT) of 3 pm. Ultraviolet imaging bands placed within (260 nm) and longward (320 nm) of Hartley band (240-300 nm) ozone (O3) absorption support retrievals…
Variations of water vapor and cloud top altitude in the Venus' mesosphere from SPICAV/VEx observations
Montmessin, F.; Fedorova, A.; Korablev, O. +3 more
SPICAV VIS-IR spectrometer on-board the Venus Express mission measured the H2O abundance above Venus' clouds in the 1.38 µm band, and provided an estimation of the cloud top altitude based on CO2 bands in the range of 1.4-1.6 µm. The H2O content and the cloud top altitude have been retrieved for the com…
Chromophores from photolyzed ammonia reacting with acetylene: Application to Jupiter's Great Red Spot
Baines, K. H.; Carlson, R. W.; Simon, A. A. +2 more
The high altitude of Jupiter's Great Red Spot (GRS) may enhance the upward flux of gaseous ammonia (NH3) into the high troposphere, where NH3 molecules can be photodissociated and initiate a chain of chemical reactions with downwelling acetylene molecules (C2H2). These reactions, experimentally studied e…
Nature, distribution, and origin of Titan's Undifferentiated Plains
Janssen, M. A.; Cassini RADAR Team; Lopes, Rosaly M. C. +15 more
The Undifferentiated Plains on Titan, first mapped by Lopes et al. (Lopes, R.M.C. et al., 2010. Icarus, 205, 540-588), are vast expanses of terrains that appear radar-dark and fairly uniform in Cassini Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images. As a result, these terrains are often referred to as ;blandlands;. While the interpretation of several other…
Discrete sources of cryovolcanism on the nucleus of Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann and their origin
Miles, Richard
Evidence for long-lived sources of cryovolcanism on the nucleus of the Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann has been found from a study of its times of outburst (t0) and the morphological development of inner coma structures. Analysis of data from the Minor Planet Center observations archive spanning 2002-2014 and other observations have yiel…
Characteristics of north jovian aurora from STIS FUV spectral images
Bonfond, B.; Nichols, J. D.; Ray, L. C. +4 more
We analyzed two observations obtained in Jan. 2013, consisting of spatial scans of the jovian north ultraviolet aurora with the HST Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) in the spectroscopic mode. The color ratio (CR) method, which relates the wavelength-dependent absorption of the FUV spectra to the mean energy of the precipitating electron…