Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
May 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010dda....41.0907f&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DDA meeting #41, #9.07; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.935
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
We describe a method of analyzing a binary star occultation from Cassini's Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS). This occultation is unique in that the binary star Alpha Centauri is occulted by Saturn's rings. We attempt to isolate the transmissions of Alpha Centauri A and B from the total signal, and use these data to search for longitudinal variations of Saturn's rings. To do this, we assume the signal is comprised of flux from Alpha Centauri A, Alpha Centauri B, reflected sunlight from the rings, and reflected Saturnshine from the rings. We also assume that each of these components has a radially dependent part and a wavelength dependent part. The first step we take is to normalize the data to correct for a spacecraft pointing variation. We solve for the wavelength components using gap edges, flux within gaps, and the opaque B ring. Once we know the wavelength dependent components, we can use four equations and Cramer's rule to solve for the radially dependent components. This allows us to examine the transmissions of Alp Cen A and Alp Cen B for longitudinal variations. Additionally, this analysis separates reflected Saturnshine and Sunlight from the signal, which has not been done before. This algorithm discussed could be applied to similar occultations with binary stars. It could also be used on single star occultations to extract the reflected Saturnshine and Sunlight components.
Freeman William
Hedman Matthew M.
Nicholson Philip D.
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