Search Publications
Spectral and emissivity analysis of the raised ramparts around Titan's northern lakes
Rodriguez, S.; Soderblom, J. M.; Janssen, M. A. +18 more
Some of Titan's small northern hemisphere lakes show raised rampart features (which are distinct from raised rims), and appear as SAR-bright mound-like annuli extending away from the lake for up to tens of kilometers from the shoreline. We investigate the infrared and microwave characteristics of these features using Cassini Visual and Infrared Ma…
Style and intensity of hydration among C-complex asteroids: A comparison to desiccated carbonaceous chondrites
Vernazza, P.; Usui, F.; Schmitt, B. +3 more
Here we report a comparison between reflectance spectroscopy of meteorites under asteroidal environment (high vacuum and temperature) and Main Belt and Near Earth Asteroids spectra. Focusing on the -OH absorption feature around 3 µm, we show that the asteroidal environment induces a reduction of depth and width of the band, as well as a shif…
Seasonal evolution of temperatures in Titan's lower stratosphere
Irwin, P. G. J.; Teanby, N. A.; Bézard, B. +4 more
The Cassini mission offered us the opportunity to monitor the seasonal evolution of Titan's atmosphere from 2004 to 2017, i.e. half a Titan year. The lower part of the stratosphere (pressures greater than 10 mbar) is a region of particular interest as there are few available temperature measurements, and because its thermal response to the seasona…
Orbits and resonances of the regular moons of Neptune
de Pater, Imke; Showalter, Mark R.; Lissauer, Jack J. +3 more
We report integrated orbital fits for the inner regular moons of Neptune based on the most complete astrometric data set to date, with observations from Earth-based telescopes, Voyager 2, and the Hubble Space Telescope covering 1981-2016. We summarize the results in terms of state vectors, mean orbital elements, and orbital uncertainties. The esti…
Two-dimensional model for the martian exosphere: Applications to hydrogen and deuterium Lyman α observations
Bertaux, J. L.; Clarke, J. T.; Yelle, R. V. +8 more
The analysis of Lyman α observations in the exosphere of Mars has become limited by the assumption of spherical symmetry in the modeling process, as the models are being used to analyze increasingly detailed measurements. In order to overcome this limitation, a two-dimensional density model is presented, which better emulates the density distribut…
Saturn atmospheric dynamics one year after Cassini: Long-lived features and time variations in the drift of the Hexagon
Hueso, R.; Sánchez-Lavega, A.; Rojas, J. F. +15 more
We examine Saturn's atmospheric dynamics with observations in the visible range from ground-based telescopes and Hubble Space Telescope (HST). We present a detailed analysis of observations acquired during 2018 obtaining drift rates of major meteorological systems from the equator to the north polar hexagon. A system of polar storms that appeared …
Lunar ilmenite content as assessed by improved Chandrayaan-1 M3 data
Videen, Gorden; Shkuratov, Yuriy; Surkov, Yehor +2 more
We map ilmenite abundance on the Moon surface using Chandrayaan-1 M3 data, exploiting the strength of the ilmenite absorption band near 1550 nm. The mapping is carried out for an area comprising the border between Mare Serenitatis and Mare Tranquillitatis. We use an improved filtration of the strip noise that is characteristic of Chandr…
Carbon photochemistry at Mars: Updates with recent data
Yelle, Roger V.; Lillis, Robert J.; Lo, Daniel Y.
We provide a comprehensive characterization of the photochemistry behind atomic carbon in the Mars atmosphere. Using a one-dimensional photochemical model, with an extensive reaction list incorporating new high-resolution photodissociation cross-sections (Heays et al., 2017) and the recently experimentally confirmed CO2 + hν →C +O2…
Cometary avalanches as the cause of their violent outbursts - a new model of the phenomenon
Wesołowski, M.; Gronkowski, P.; Tralle, I.
The cometary outbursts are one of the most spectacular phenomena one can observe in the sky. They are associated with a sharp increase in the brightness of comets, which arises as a result of the ejection into space the dust, gas or even the fragments of outer layer of these celestial bodies core. Despite the existence of extensive observational m…
Multispectral surface emissivity from VIRTIS on Venus Express
Tsang, C. C. C.; Mueller, N. T.; Smrekar, S. E.
The surface composition of Venus is mostly inaccessible to remote observation due to the dense cloud cover. There are five spectral windows that show measurable thermal emission from the surface at night. The VIRTIS spectrometer on Venus Express observed three of these windows over much of the southern hemisphere of Venus. We use these data along …