Peeling the Onion: The Upper Surface of Mimas from Cassini VIMS

Details Peeling the Onion: The Upper Surface of Mimas from Cassini VIMS Peeling the Onion: The Upper Surface of Mimas from Cassini VIMS

Oct 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010dps....42.0108b&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #42, #1.08; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.942

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Scientific paper

Cloaked in light from Saturn and its rings, the medium-sized Saturnian satellite Mimas is difficult to observe form Earth, and it was the only major satellite not to have a close encounter by the Cassini spacecraft. Observations of the moon during Ring Plane Crossing in 1995 and by the Hubble Space Telescope established that the moon has a visual geometric albedo of greater than unity (Verbiscer et al. 2007, Science 315, 815) and a brighter trailing side (Buratti et al. 1998, Icarus 136, 223), suggesting it is being coated by the E-ring. Observations at opposition obtained by the Cassini Visual Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) instrument between 0.4 and 5.2 microns show the moon has a surge similar to that seen on other icy bodies, increasing in brightness by over 30% in the last five degrees. During the closest nontargeted flyby by Cassini on February 13, 2010, when the Cassini spacecraft approached within 9500 km of Mimas, maps of the moon were obtained by VIMS. Water ice absorption bands in the central peak and crater rim of Herschel are deeper than those in the surrounding regions. Preliminary results indicate the water ice grain size decreases as the distance from the apex of motion increases. No constituents other than water ice have yet been identified.
Funded by NASA.

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