Composition and Physical Properties of Enceladus' Surface
Robert H. Brown
(1)
,
Roger N. Clark
(2)
,
B. J. Buratti
(3)
,
Dale P. Cruikshank
(4)
,
Jason W. Barnes
(1)
,
Rachel M. E. Mastrapa
(4)
,
J. Bauer
(3)
,
S. Newman
(3)
,
Thomas W. Momary
(3)
,
Kevin H. Baines
(3)
,
Giancarlo Bellucci
(5)
,
Fabrizio Capaccioni
(6)
,
Priscilla Cerroni
(6)
,
Michel Combes
(7, 8, 9)
,
Angioletta Coradini
(6)
,
Pierre Drossart
(7, 8, 9)
,
Vittorio Formisano
(5)
,
Ralf Jaumann
(10)
,
Yves Langevin
(11)
,
Dennis L. Matson
(3)
,
Thomas B. Mccord
(12)
,
Robert M. Nelson
(3)
,
Philip D. Nicholson
(13)
,
Bruno Sicardy
(7, 8, 9)
,
Christophe Sotin
(14)
1
LPL -
Lunar and Planetary Laboratory [University of Arizona]
2 US Geological Survey, Flagstaff
3 JPL - Jet Propulsion Laboratory
4 SETI Institute, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field
5 IFSI - Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario
6 Instituto di Astrofisica Spaziale - CNR, Area della recerca di Tor Vergata
7 Observatoire de Paris
8 LESIA - Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique
9 Pôle Planétologie du LESIA
10 DLR - Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt
11 IAS - Institut d'astrophysique spatiale
12 Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington
13 Department of Astronomy, Cornell University
14 UN - Université de Nantes
2 US Geological Survey, Flagstaff
3 JPL - Jet Propulsion Laboratory
4 SETI Institute, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field
5 IFSI - Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario
6 Instituto di Astrofisica Spaziale - CNR, Area della recerca di Tor Vergata
7 Observatoire de Paris
8 LESIA - Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique
9 Pôle Planétologie du LESIA
10 DLR - Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt
11 IAS - Institut d'astrophysique spatiale
12 Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington
13 Department of Astronomy, Cornell University
14 UN - Université de Nantes
Résumé
Observations of Saturn's satellite Enceladus using Cassini's Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer instrument were obtained during three flybys of Enceladus in 2005. Enceladus' surface is composed mostly of nearly pure water ice except near its south pole, where there are light organics, CO2, and amorphous and crystalline water ice, particularly in the region dubbed the ``tiger stripes.'' An upper limit of 5 precipitable nanometers is derived for CO in the atmospheric column above Enceladus, and 2% for NH3 in global surface deposits. Upper limits of 140 kelvin (for a filled pixel) are derived for the temperatures in the tiger stripes.