Imaging Spectroscopy of Mars from 3 to 4 MU M

Details Imaging Spectroscopy of Mars from 3 to 4 MU M Imaging Spectroscopy of Mars from 3 to 4 MU M

Sep 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996dps....28.0227b&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #28, #02.27; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 28, p.1063

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Nearly 40 years ago Bill Sinton reported evidence for 3 to 4 mu m absorption features in Mars dark region spectra (the "Sinton bands"). These three features were interpreted as C-H bands, but later it was shown that two of these bands were caused by HDO in the Earth's atmosphere. The third band, at 3.45 mu m, was not satisfactorily explained, although possibilities were presented including carbonate minerals or C-H in free aldehyde groups. This issue has not been substantially revisited since, primarily because of the lack of high spatial resolution, high SNR Mars spectral data in the 3 to 4 mu m region. We are re-assessing the spectroscopic detection of C-bearing materials on Mars using new data obtained from the NASA IRTF during the 1994-95 Mars opposition. These data were obtained using NSFCAM on 10 nights between 10/94 and 5/95, and included "survey" imaging at N_λ=32 from 1.56 to 4.10 mu m, and higher lambda -sampled measurements at N_λ=58 from 1.92 to 2.48 mu m and at N_λ=48 from 3.00 to 4.16 mu m. Delta lambda /lambda of these CVF images is 0.9 to 1.4%, and the best spatial resolution is 100 km/pixel. Coverage is 80% of the planet. Initial analysis of these data has revealed two enigmatic absorption features at 3.32 mu m and 3.40 mu m that occur primarily in Syrtis Major and which appear to be repeatable in observations from different nights and through differing Mars airmasses. A spectroscopic search of thousands of minerals, organics, and mixtures (U.S.G.S. Spectral Library) has not revealed any candidate material for the 3.32 mu m feature, but the 3.40 mu m feature occurs close in wavelength to absorption features in some carbonate- and/or sulfate-bearing minerals. While the origin of the enigmatic 3 to 4 mu m absorption features detected has not yet been determined, our preliminary analysis indicates that these features are more likely related to carbonate, sulfate, or possibly even C-H bearing minerals than to residual telluric or Martian atmospheric absorptions.

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