Compositional Mapping of Saturn's Satellite Dione with Cassini VIMS and Implications for Dark Material in the Saturn System

Details Compositional Mapping of Saturn's Satellite Dione with Cassini VIMS and Implications for Dark Material in the Saturn System Compositional Mapping of Saturn's Satellite Dione with Cassini VIMS and Implications for Dark Material in the Saturn System

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufm.p32a..03c&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #P32A-03

Other

5410 Composition (1060, 3672), 5422 Ices, 5455 Origin And Evolution, 5464 Remote Sensing, 5470 Surface Materials And Properties

Scientific paper

The Cassini spacecraft has made multiple observations of Dione and other satellites in the Saturn system, including a fly-by of Dione on October 11, 2005, passing within 1059 km. The Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) obtained 0.35-5.1 micron image cubes during the fly-by, and the data have been mosaicked for study. The data were searched for absorption features and their spatial locations mapped. Spectra of Dione are dominated by absorptions due to water ice, with weak features from a carbon dioxide absorption near 4.26 microns and from a non-ice component exhibiting a 2.42 micron absorption also seen in spectra of Phoebe (Clark et al, Nature, 2005), Iapetus, Hyperion, and the F-ring. A broad absorption extending from 0.5 to about 1.5 microns, similar to absorptions in ferrous iron (Fe2+) bearing minerals, shows prominently in Dione spectra. The Dione spectra have a strong UV absorption short of 0.5 microns. Some crater rims show one side dominated by dark material and the other side dominated by water ice. The distribution of these materials could be explained by implantation of dark material from the trailing side direction, or implantation of ice from the leading side of Dione's orbital direction. An alternative interpretation of the Fe2+ spectral structure could be sub-micron dark grains embedded in the ice that causes Rayleigh scattering, resulting in curvature of the spectrum that mimics the Fe2+ feature. Sub-micron dark grains hitting the trailing side of Dione could create the observed spectral and spatial patterns observed by VIMS. Furthermore, the abundance of the dark material must remain less than about 1% or the Rayleigh scattering effect would be suppressed such that the reflectance spectrum loses the Rayleigh component. Rayleigh yet still maintain spectral differences in the visible spectrum between satellites.

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