Statistical Clustering and Compositional Modeling of Iapetus VIMS Spectral Data

Details Statistical Clustering and Compositional Modeling of Iapetus VIMS Spectral Data Statistical Clustering and Compositional Modeling of Iapetus VIMS Spectral Data

Dec 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufm.p51c1144p&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #P51C-1144

Physics

[5410] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Composition, [5422] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Ices, [6280] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Saturnian Satellites

Scientific paper

It has long been known that the surfaces of Saturn's major satellites are predominantly icy objects [e.g. 1 and references therein]. Since 2004, these bodies have been the subject of observations by the Cassini-VIMS (Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer) experiment [2]. Iapetus has the unique property that the hemisphere centered on the apex of its locked synchronous orbital motion around Saturn has a very low geometrical albedo of 2-6%, while the opposite hemisphere is about 10 times more reflective. The nature and origin of the dark material of Iapetus has remained a question since its discovery [3 and references therein]. The nature of this material and how it is distributed on the surface of this body, can shed new light into the knowledge of the Saturnian system. We apply statistical clustering [4] and theoretical modeling [5,6] to address the surface composition of Iapetus. The VIMS data evaluated were obtained during the second flyby of Iapetus, in September 2007. This close approach allowed VIMS to obtain spectra at relatively high spatial resolution, ~1-22 km/pixel. The data we study sampled the trailing hemisphere and part of the dark leading one. The statistical clustering [4] is used to identify statistically distinct spectra on Iapetus. The composition of these distinct spectra are evaluated using theoretical models [5,6]. We thank Allan Meyer for his help. This research was supported by an appointment to the NASA Postdoctoral Program at the Ames Research Center, administered by Oak Ridge Associated Universities through a contract with NASA. [1] A, Coradini et al., 2009, Earth, Moon & Planets, 105, 289-310. [2] Brown et al., 2004, Space Science Reviews, 115, 111-168. [3] Cruikshank, D. et al Icarus, 2008, 193, 334-343. [4] Marzo, G. et al. 2008, Journal of Geophysical Research, 113, E12, CiteID E12009. [5] Hapke, B. 1993, Theory of reflectance and emittance spectroscopy, Cambridge University Press. [6] Shkuratov, Y. et al. 1999, Icarus, 137, 235-246.

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