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Sizes, shapes, and derived properties of the saturnian satellites after the Cassini nominal mission
Thomas, P. C.
The Cassini spacecraft has provided data on over twenty satellites orbiting Saturn. In this study we update the shape measurements derived from imaging data of nearly all the observed regular satellites (those with low eccentricities and inclinations) and briefly discuss some of the implications of their properties. In particular, the improved dat…
Analysis of Cassini/CIRS limb spectra of Titan acquired during the nominal mission. I. Hydrocarbons, nitriles and CO 2 vertical mixing ratio profiles
Bézard, Bruno; Vinatier, Sandrine; Nixon, Conor A. +8 more
Observations of the Composite InfraRed Spectrometer (CIRS) during the entire nominal Cassini mission (2004-2008) provide us with an accurate global view of composition and temperature in the middle atmosphere of Titan (between 100 and 500 km). We investigated limb spectra acquired at 0.5cm resolution at nine different latitudes between 56°S and 80…
Methane absorption coefficients for the jovian planets from laboratory, Huygens, and HST data
Karkoschka, Erich; Tomasko, Martin G.
We use 11 data sets of methane transmission measurements within 0.4-5.5 µm wavelength to model the methane transmission for temperature and pressure conditions in the jovian planets. Eight data sets are based on published laboratory measurements. Another two data sets come from two spectrometers onboard the Huygens probe that measured methan…
Evidence for Hesperian impact-induced hydrothermalism on Mars
Tornabene, Livio L.; Roush, Ted L.; Bishop, Janice L. +7 more
Several hydrated silicate deposits on Mars are observed within craters and are interpreted as excavated Noachian material. Toro crater (71.8°E, 17.0°N), located on the northern edge of the Syrtis Major Volcanic Plains, shows spectral and morphologic evidence of impact-induced hydrothermal activity. Spectroscopic observations were used to identify …
A cold and wet Mars
Fairén, Alberto G.
Water on Mars has been explained by invoking controversial and mutually exclusive solutions based on warming the atmosphere with greenhouse gases (the "warm and wet" Mars) or on local thermal energy sources acting in a global freezing climate (the "cold and dry" Mars). Both have critical limitations and none has been definitively accepted as a com…
Titan trace gaseous composition from CIRS at the end of the Cassini-Huygens prime mission
Teanby, N. A.; Flasar, F. M.; Lavvas, P. +10 more
This paper reports on the results from an extensive study of all nadir-looking spectra acquired by Cassini/CIRS during the 44 flybys performed in the course of the nominal mission (2004-2008). With respect to the previous study (Coustenis, A., and 24 colleagues [2007]. Icarus 189, 35-62, on flybys TB-T10) we present here a significantly richer dat…
How the Enceladus dust plume feeds Saturn’s E ring
Schmidt, Jürgen; Kempf, Sascha; Beckmann, Uwe
Pre-Cassini models of Saturn's E ring [Horányi, M., Burns, J., Hamilton, D., 1992. Icarus 97, 248-259; Juhász, A., Horányi, M., 2002. J. Geophys. Res. 107, 1-10] failed to reproduce its peculiar vertical structure inferred from Earth-bound observations [de Pater, I., Martin, S.C., Showalter, M.R., 2004. Icarus 172, 446-454]. After the discovery of…
Impact craters on Titan
Cassini Radar Team; Wood, Charles A.; Lorenz, Ralph +4 more
Five certain impact craters and 44 additional nearly certain and probable ones have been identified on the 22% of Titan's surface imaged by Cassini's high-resolution radar through December 2007. The certain craters have morphologies similar to impact craters on rocky planets, as well as two with radar bright, jagged rims. The less certain craters …
Thermal inertia and bolometric Bond albedo values for Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea and Iapetus as derived from Cassini/CIRS measurements
Spencer, J. R.; Howett, C. J. A.; Pearl, J. +1 more
Spectra taken by Cassini's Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) between 10 and 600 cm -1 (17-1000 µm) of surface thermal emission of Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea and Iapetus have been used to derive the thermal inertia and bolometric Bond albedo values. Only an upper limit for the bolometric Bond albedo of Iapetus' dark…
A comparison of global models for the solar wind interaction with Mars
Kallio, E.; Barabash, S.; Lammer, H. +24 more
We present initial results from the first community-wide effort to compare global plasma interaction model results for Mars. Seven modeling groups participated in this activity, using MHD, multi-fluid, and hybrid assumptions in their simulations. Moderate solar wind and solar EUV conditions were chosen, and the conditions were implemented in the m…