Reflectance Spectroscopy of the Individual Members of the Pluto/Charon System: HST/NICMOS Results

Details Reflectance Spectroscopy of the Individual Members of the Pluto/Charon System: HST/NICMOS Results Reflectance Spectroscopy of the Individual Members of the Pluto/Charon System: HST/NICMOS Results

Sep 1998

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1998dps....30.4908d&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #30, #49.08; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 30, p.1108

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Since Pluto formed from primitive solar nebula material that condensed at very low temperature (<= 50K), it's surface contains important information about the nature of the planetesimals that populate the outer regions of our solar system and the Kuiper belt. Because Pluto and its satellite Charon are separated by not more than 0.9 arcsecond, reflectance spectroscopy of this double system was previously obtained from the combined light of the two bodies. Some information about the composition of the individual objects could nevertheless be obtained while Pluto was eclipsing Charon. The surface of Pluto is believed to be covered by several ices (mainly N_2 but also CH_4 and CO) (Owen et al. 1993, Science 261, 745-748) forming patches of bright N_2 rich-regions and dark nitrogen-depleted areas distributed non-uniformely (Jewitt 1994, AJ 107, 372-378). While its satellite Charon is believed to be mostly covered with H_2O ice (Buie et al. 1987, Nature 329, 522-523 --- Marcialis et al. 1987, Science 237, 1349-1351) with few patches of a mixture of CO_2 and CH_4 ices (Roush et al. 1996, Icarus 119, 214-218). HST/FOC observations of the surface of Pluto confirmed the presence of large albedo variations (Stern et al. 1997, AJ 113, 827-843). We used HST/NICMOS to obtain reflectance spectroscopic measurements of the individual members of the Pluto/Charon system. These observations were executed during the two 1998 ``camera-3 campaigns'' and at the following orbital longitudes of Charon (0, 90(o) , 180(o) , 270(o) ). The spectra of the two bodies were fully separated for orbital longitude 90(o) and 270(o) . We will present the preliminary analysis of the 0.8mu m-2.5mu m spectra of Pluto and Charon with a resolution of ~ 200/pixel. The data set is currently under reduction but we expect at this resolution to be able to identify the spectral signatures of the diverse icy compounds present on the surface of Pluto and Charon. The results of these observations will also strongly constrain the compositional models of Pluto's atmosphere.

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