Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Apr 2003
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003eaeja.....7907m&link_type=abstract
EGS - AGU - EUG Joint Assembly, Abstracts from the meeting held in Nice, France, 6 - 11 April 2003, abstract #7907
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) and cometary nuclei show remarkable color variations. In the visual and near-infrared spectral regions their colors may range from red to gray or bluish. This probably indicates that surface alteration processes such as space weathering and impact resurfacing plays an essential role in the color diversity of such bodies. In particular, some previous laboratory ion-irradiation experiments demonstrated a transformation of surface colors of ices from gray to red and further to gray. Additional possibility is a transformation of originally red dark refractory organic surface components into a gray carbonized material as a result of ion irradiation. We simulated such an "ageing" effect by an irradiation of a natural dark red organic samples (asphaltite and kerite). The samples were irradiated by 30-60 keV H+, N+ and Ar++ ions and their reflectance spectra were measured before and after irradiation. The results indicate that initially red spectra of organics progressively flatten with increasing ion fluences. The laboratory spectra have been compared with astronomical spectra of TNOs. We demonstrate that an observed variety of TNO’ spectral slopes can be reproduced by our laboratory spectra corresponding to different ion fluences. If we assume that fresh surfaces of some TNOs are red due to their refractory organic components, then their irradiation by ion populations in the Solar System in combination with collisional evolution exposing these fresh surfaces could have produced a variety of colors.
Arnold Gabriele
Baratta Giuseppe
Barucci Marco
Distefano Elisa
Dotto Elisabetta
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