Accretion of Low-albedo Dust by the Outer Satellites of the Gas Giants

Details Accretion of Low-albedo Dust by the Outer Satellites of the Gas Giants Accretion of Low-albedo Dust by the Outer Satellites of the Gas Giants

May 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agusm.p11a..01b&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2009, abstract #P11A-01

Mathematics

Logic

6015 Dust, 6223 Callisto, 6280 Saturnian Satellites, 6290 Uranian Satellites

Scientific paper

The origin and nature of the low-albedo hemisphere of Iapetus represents one of the most intriguing problems in planetary science. Observations of the satellite have shown that the two hemispheres of the satellite are wholly different. The trailing hemisphere has an albedo, composition, and morphology typical of the other icy Saturnian satellites, while the surface of the leading side is composed of an extraordinarily low-albedo, reddish material that includes organic material and carbon. The study of pathological objects such as Iapetus offers clues to general alteration processes that might act throughout the outer Solar System. Bell et al. (1985, Icarus 61, 192) proposed just that by suggesting that Callisto was the Iapetus of the Jovian system in a less extreme manifestation. Unlike the other Galilean satellites, Callisto is darker on its leading side (except right at opposition), suggesting it may have swept up low-albedo dust in a process similar to that occurring on Iapetus. Our recent work seeking hemispheric diversity on the Uranian satellites also shows that the outermost satellites (Titania and Oberon) tend to be darker and redder on the leading side. Our hypothesis is that all of the outermost major satellites of Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus accrete reddish, low-albedo dust from the small, captured, outer retrograde satellites of these planets. The dust is kicked off by meteoritic impacts and spirals in by Poynting-Robertson drag to impact the leading sides of the outer larger satellites, including Iapetus, Callisto, Titania, and Oberon. Work funded by NASA.

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