Search Publications
Corrugations and eccentric spirals in Saturn's D ring: New insights into what happened at Saturn in 1983
Hedman, M. M.; Burns, J. A.; Showalter, M. R.
Previous investigations of Saturn's outer D ring (73,200-74,000 km from Saturn's center) identified periodic brightness variations whose radial wavenumber increased linearly over time. This pattern was attributed to a vertical corrugation, and its temporal variability implied that some event - possibly an impact with interplanetary debris - caused…
UV contrasts and microphysical properties of the upper clouds of Venus from the UV and NIR VMC/VEx images
Markiewicz, Wojciech J.; Petrova, Elena V.; Shalygina, Oksana S.
The nature of UV contrasts observed on the upper cloud deck of Venus is still not known. To constrain better the properties of particles that may cause the UV contrasts, the phase dependences of brightness of the venusian clouds measured by the ultraviolet and near-infrared channels of the Venus Express Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC) in the UV dark…
The opposition effect in Saturn's main rings as seen by Cassini ISS: 2. Constraints on the ring particles and their regolith with analytical radiative transfer models
Déau, Estelle
The opposition effect in Saturn's main rings is characterized by a surge in ring brightness, when the phase angle approaches zero degree. This effect can be used to derive: physical properties of the ring particles and the ring layer, via the shadow hiding mechanism; and physical properties of the regolith grains that cover the ring particles, via…
Amazonian modification of Moreux crater: Record of recent and episodic glaciation in the Protonilus Mensae region of Mars
Sinha, Rishitosh K.; Murty, S. V. S.
Morphologic characteristics of ice-rich landforms in the martian mid-latitudes record evidence for significant modification of the landscape in response to spin-axis/orbital parameter-driven shifts in the Late Amazonian climate. These landforms are spatially distributed across the mid-latitudes and their co-existing presence has so far not been ob…
Topside of the martian ionosphere near the terminator: Variations with season and solar zenith angle and implications for the origin of the transient layers
Huang, Qian; Zhang, Jie; Orosei, Roberto +1 more
In this paper, the morphological variations of the M2 layer of the martian ionosphere with the martian seasons and solar zenith angle (SZA) at the terminator are investigated. The data used are the MARSIS (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding) measurements (approximately 5000 ionograms) that were acquired from 2005 to 2012, w…
Search for hydrogen peroxide in the Martian atmosphere by the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer onboard Mars Express
Aoki, Shohei; Kasaba, Yasumasa; Formisano, Vittorio +4 more
We searched for hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in the Martian atmosphere using data measured by the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS) onboard Mars Express during five martian years (MY27-31). It is well known that H2O2 plays a key role in the oxidizing capacity of the Martian atmosphere. However, only a few…
The millimeter-wavelength sulfur dioxide absorption spectra measured under simulated Venus conditions
Bellotti, Amadeo; Steffes, Paul G.
Over 130 laboratory measurements of the 2-4 mm wavelength opacity of sulfur dioxide in a carbon dioxide atmosphere under simulated conditions for the upper Venus troposphere (temperatures between 308 and 343 K and pressures between 0.03 and 2 bar) have been made. These measurements along with the centimeter wavelength measurements by Steffes et al…
Removal of atmospheric features in near infrared spectra by means of principal component analysis and target transformation on Mars: I. Method
Bellucci, G.; D'Aversa, E.; Carrozzo, F. G. +8 more
The aim of this work is to extract the surface contribution in the martian visible/near-infrared spectra removing the atmospheric components by means of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and target transformation (TT). The developed technique is suitable for separating spectral components in a data set large enough to enable an effective usage of…
Phobos grooves and impact craters: A stereographic analysis
Massironi, Matteo; Pajola, Maurizio; Cremonese, Gabriele +1 more
Phobos parallel grooves were first observed on Viking images 38 years ago and since then they have been greatly debated leading to several formation hypotheses. Nevertheless, none of them have been favoured and widely accepted. In this work, we provide a different approach, assuming that Phobos grooves can be the expression of fracture planes, and…
Analysis of regional gullies within Noachis Terra, Mars: A complex relationship between slope, surface material and aspect
Hobbs, S. W.; Paull, D. J.; Clarke, J. D. A.
The precise mechanisms by which martian hillside gullies erode and their dependence on the local environment remain subjects of debate. We studied three sharp rimmed craters in Noachis Terra and 37 gully profiles using Context Camera (CTX), Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) and High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) data. We analysed the gully top…