Spectrum of Eris from 0.5 to 2.4 Microns. Clues for a Stratified Surface.

Details Spectrum of Eris from 0.5 to 2.4 Microns. Clues for a Stratified Surface. Spectrum of Eris from 0.5 to 2.4 Microns. Clues for a Stratified Surface.

Dec 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007dps....39.3909m&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #39, #39.09; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.492

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

We present new spectroscopic data of Eris using the 8.2 meters telescopes of ESO-VLT (UT1-UT2 and UT4). We use FORS1 in the visible range, ISAAC in the 1.1-1.4 microns range and SINFONI to cover the 1.45-2.45 microns range. The methods to reduce and analyse the data are presented, as well as results from these observations.
We show that Eris is covered by large amounts of methane, which confirms previous observations (from Brown et al, 2006, Licandro et al. 2006 and Dumas et al. 2007). The spectral resolution allows us to precisely measure wavelength of the detected absorption bands of methane. We find that several of them are shifted compared to these of pure methane ice, especially in visible range. From our measurements (computed on the smoothed and unsmoothed spectra), we do not report any significant (within the error bars) wavelength shifts in the J and H+K bands. This suggests that part of CH4 is probably diluted in N2 as on Pluto or 2005 FY9.
The optical path of the light is not the same between visible and near infrared light. The differential shifts and depths of the CH4 bands (observed between visible and near infrared range) suggest that Eris could be covered by CH4 ice in different physical states depending of the depth, implying stratification in the superficial layers of the body. The radiative transfer models (Hapke and Shkuratov) indicate that 90% of the surface, at least, is covered by CH4 and clearly show that CH4 is present in different states (dilution, grain size,¼) on the surface of Eris.

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