Search Publications
Determination of asteroid masses from their close encounters with Mars
Laskar, J.; Fienga, A.; Kuchynka, P. +1 more
An obstacle to the asteroid mass determination lies in the difficulty in isolating the gravitational perturbation exerted by a single asteroid on the planets, being strongly correlated and mixed up with those of many other asteroids. This hindrance may be avoided by the method of analysis presented here: an asteroid mass is estimated in correspond…
Racetrack and Bonnie Claire: southwestern US playa lakes as analogs for Ontario Lacus, Titan
Lorenz, Ralph D.; Hayes, Alex; Jackson, Brian
We note the geomorphological and meteorological processes at Racetrack Playa, Death Valley National Park, as analogs for those at Ontario Lacus on Titan. Although Ontario is ∼50× larger, the planforms of the two features are nearly identical, both are extremely flat, and are in environments where infrequent rainfall occurs against a climate, where…
Dynamics of Saturn's magnetodisk near Titan's orbit: Comparison of Cassini magnetometer observations from real and virtual Titan flybys
Dougherty, Michele K.; Kriegel, Hendrik; Simon, Sven +4 more
We analyze the variability of the ambient magnetospheric field along Titan's orbit at 20.3 Saturn radii. However, while our preceding study ( Simon et al., 2010) focused on Cassini magnetometer observations from the 62 Titan flybys (TA-T62) between October 2004 and October 2009, the present work discusses magnetic field data that were collected ne…
The Lada Terra rise and Quetzalpetlatl Corona: A region of long-lived mantle upwelling and recent volcanic activity on Venus
Head, James W.; Ivanov, Mikhail A.
Quetzalpetlatl Corona (∼850 km in diameter) and Boala Corona (∼350 km×250 km in diameter), are both situated within the Lada Terra rise, a prominent ∼2000-km-wide circular topographic feature rising ∼2.5-3 km above the mean planetary radius in the southern hemisphere of Venus, south of the Lavinia Planitia lowlands. Together these features form a …
High spectral resolution infrared studies of Titan: Winds, temperature, and composition
Fast, Kelly E.; Sonnabend, Guido; Hewagama, Tilak +7 more
The Cassini Huygens mission provides a unique opportunity to combine ground-based and spacecraft investigations to increase our understanding of chemical and dynamical processes in Titan's atmosphere. Spectroscopic measurements from both vantage points enable retrieving global wind structure, temperature structure, and atmospheric composition. An …
Brightness of Saturn's rings with decreasing solar elevation
Altobelli, Nicolas; Flandes, Alberto; Spilker, Linda +5 more
Early ground-based and spacecraft observations suggested that the temperature of Saturn's main rings (A, B and C) varied with the solar elevation angle, B'. Data from the composite infrared spectrometer (CIRS) on board Cassini, which has been in orbit around Saturn for more than five years, confirm this variation and have been used to d…
NO emissions as observed by SPICAV during stellar occultations
Montmessin, Franck; Bertaux, Jean-Loup; Royer, Emilie
Ultraviolet (UV) nightglow data from the SPICAV instrument (SPectroscopy for the Investigation of the Characteristics of the Atmosphere of Venus) onboard the Venus Express spacecraft, currently in orbit around Venus, are presented. In its extended source mode, SPICAV has shown that the Venus nightglow in the UV contains essentially Lyman- α and Ni…
Magnetic field investigations during ROSETTA's 2867 Šteins flyby
Richter, I.; Glassmeier, K. H.; Carr, C. M. +3 more
During the 2867 Šteins flyby of the ROSETTA spacecraft on September 5, 2008 magnetic field measurements have been made with both the RPC orbiter magnetometer and the ROMAP lander magnetometer. These combined magnetic field measurements allow a detailed examination of any magnetic signatures caused either directly by the asteroid or indirectly by Š…
Morphology and origin of an evaporitic dome in the eastern Tithonium Chasma, Mars
Baioni, Davide; Wezel, Forese Carlo
A 3.4 km-high, dome-shaped upland in eastern Tithonium Chasma (TC) coincides with areas containing abundant surface signatures of the sulphate mineral kiersite, as identified by the OMEGA image spectrometer. The dome has surface features on its summit, flanks, and at its base that were apparently formed by liquid water released from melting ice. T…
A preliminary experience in the use of Chang’E-1 IIM data
Chen, Jun; Wu, Yunzhao; Zheng, Yongchun +7 more
The Interference Imaging Spectrometer (IIM) onboard the first lunar satellite of China, Chang'E-1, has acquired 84% of the area between south and north latitude 70°. To contribute to its usability, this paper presents our preliminary experience in the use of IIM data. Firstly, we provide one practicable method for the on-orbit correction of the in…