Search Publications
Energetic charged particle weathering of Saturn's inner satellites
Krupp, N.; Roussos, E.; Hendrix, A. R. +9 more
We characterize the relative importance of energetic electrons and protons to the weathering of five of the inner satellites of Saturn. To do this, we present data from the Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument on the Cassini spacecraft, some of which is averaged over the whole mission to date. We also compute averaged proton and electron energy spect…
The cratering history of asteroid (21) Lutetia
Sierks, H.; Mottola, S.; Barbieri, C. +9 more
The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft passed by the main belt asteroid (21) Lutetia on 10th July 2010. With its ∼100km size, Lutetia is one of the largest asteroids ever imaged by a spacecraft. During the flyby, the on-board OSIRIS imaging system acquired spectacular images of Lutetia's northern hemisphere revealing a complex surface scar…
Titan's lakes chemical composition: Sources of uncertainties and variability
Lunine, J. I.; Cordier, D.; Mousis, O. +5 more
Between 2004 and 2007 the instruments of the Cassini spacecraft, orbiting within the Saturn system, discovered dark patches in the polar regions of Titan. These features are interpreted as hydrocarbon lakes and seas with ethane and methane identified as the main compounds. In this context, we have developed a lake-atmosphere equilibrium model allo…
Surface waves on Saturn's magnetopause
Coates, A. J.; Dougherty, M. K.; Jones, G. H. +3 more
Waves on the surface of a planetary magnetopause promote energy transport into the magnetosphere, representing an important aspect of solar wind-magnetosphere coupling. At Saturn's magnetopause it has been proposed that growth of the Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) instability produces greater wave activity on the dawn side of the surface than on the dusk …
(21) Lutetia spectrophotometry from Rosetta-OSIRIS images and comparison to ground-based observations
Jorda, L.; Lara, L. M.; Bertaux, J. -L. +40 more
Here we present some preliminary results on surface variegation found on (21) Lutetia from ROSETTA-OSIRIS images acquired on 2010-07-10. The spectrophotometry obtained by means of the two cameras NAC and WAC (Narrow and Wide Angle Cameras) is consistent with ground based observations, and does not show surface diversity above the data error bars. …
Physical properties of craters on asteroid (21) Lutetia
Jorda, L.; Lara, L. M.; Bertaux, J. -L. +37 more
This paper presents an analysis of the physical properties of craters on asteroid (21) Lutetia, derived from images acquired by OSIRIS, the high-resolution cameras onboard ESA's spacecraft Rosetta. Crater morphology on (21) Lutetia fits very well with the general picture of what was known for previously visited small bodies, with a typical depth t…
Dissipation of Titan's north polar cloud at northern spring equinox
Nicholson, Philip D.; Sotin, Christophe; Barnes, Jason W. +10 more
Saturn's Moon Titan has a thick atmosphere with a meteorological cycle. We report on the evolution of the giant cloud system covering its north pole using observations acquired by the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer onboard the Cassini spacecraft. A radiative transfer model in spherical geometry shows that the clouds are found at an altit…
The northern hemisphere of asteroid (21) Lutetia—topography and orthoimages from Rosetta OSIRIS NAC image data
Mottola, Stefano; Roatsch, Thomas; Matz, Klaus-Dieter +5 more
During the flyby at asteroid (21) Lutetia by the Rosetta spacecraft in July 2010, the OSIRIS imaging system onboard acquired several hundred images of Lutetia's surface. Images of the OSIRIS NAC (Narrow Angle Camera) comprise up to 60 m/pixel ground resolution. We analyzed 84 multi-spectral NAC images with stereo-photogrammetric methods. A 3D poin…
Morphological and mechanical characterization of gullies in a periglacial environment: The case of the Russell crater dune (Mars)
Lucas, Antoine; Schmidt, Frédéric; Costard, François +4 more
Gullies on terrestrial sand dunes are rare, and their presence on Mars, as well as their mechanical properties, and the quantity of fluid required for their formations currently remain poorly understood. This study focuses on gully morphologies on the Russell megadune (54.5°S; 12.7°E) using High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) image…
Thermal and shape properties of asteroid (21) Lutetia from Herschel observations around the Rosetta flyby
Altieri, B.; Valtchanov, I.; Jorda, L. +22 more
Prior to and around the Rosetta flyby of (21) Lutetia, the Herschel Space Observatory performed a collaborative observation campaign with its two photometers observing the asteroid in the far infrared, at wavelengths not covered by Rosetta's instruments. The Herschel observations, fed into a thermophysical model (TPM) using as input a shape model …