Compositional Diversity of Small Icy Objects Beyond Saturn's Orbit

Details Compositional Diversity of Small Icy Objects Beyond Saturn's Orbit Compositional Diversity of Small Icy Objects Beyond Saturn's Orbit

May 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agusm.p32a..06g&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2007, abstract #P32A-06

Other

5464 Remote Sensing, 6020 Ices, 6055 Surfaces, 6285 Trans-Neptunian Objects, 6299 General Or Miscellaneous

Scientific paper

This talk will review what observations are revealing about compositions of the diverse zoo of icy bodies beyond Saturn's orbit. The primary tool to investigate their compositions has been near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy of their surfaces, benefiting from vibrational absorption bands in many cryogenic outer solar system materials. This technique has led to numerous important discoveries, including H2O ice on the surfaces of satellites of Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto; CH4 and N2 ices on the surfaces of Pluto and Triton; CH4 on the surfaces of the new icy planets 2005~FY9 and 2003~UB313; CO2 ice on the surfaces of Triton and uranian satellites; CO ice on the surfaces of Triton and Pluto; and water ice on the surfaces of a number of trans-neptunian objects (TNOs) and Centaurs. Additional tantalizing evidence for more complex organic ices has been seen in several TNO spectra, and evidence is widespread for very complex organic residues (tholins) which produce characteristic reddish slopes in visible wavelength spectra of almost all outer solar system objects. Spectroscopic observations can also constrain thermodynamic properties, such as between various crystalline and amorphous states, between ices mixed at macroscopic or molecular levels, and between ices at different temperatures. Quantitative estimates of ice abundances are also possible. However, reflectance spectroscopy does have significant limitations, which will be discussed. Needs for additional laboratory studies in support of future observations will also be mentioned, including those of NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper belt. In addition to spectroscopic techniques, other, somewhat less direct techniques have bearing on compositions of outer solar system objects, including measurements of densities by means of independent mass and size estimates, of atmospheres using occultation studies, and of albedos via combined thermal emission and visible reflectance photometry. These studies are revealing a remarkable diversity of chemical environments on the surfaces of small icy bodies in the outer solar system, ranging from satellites which formed in the warm sub-nebulae around giant planets to objects which formed in the cold outer parts of the proto-solar nebula. Some objects retain bright surface coatings of volatile ices while others are coated with varying amounts of dark radiolytic residues. Objects reside in a variety of environments, ranging from the solar wind to beyond the heliopause, to the magnetospheres of giant planets. Some objects are even beginning to show evidence of regional variations in their surface chemistry.

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