[Previous] | [Session 51P] | [Next]
D.W. McCarthy, H. Campins, S. Kern, R. H. Brown, S. Stolovy, M. Rieke (UAZ)
We present 1-2 micron spectra of ten Centaurs and Trans-Neptunian Objects obtained from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) using the NICMOS grism G141. Spectral resolutions range from ~10-200, depending on the amount of binning necessary to achieve high signal-to-noise. The surfaces of these objects contain potentially unique records of early evolutionary processing (accretional and dynamical) in the outer solar system. The 1-2 micron spectral region is especially sensitive to absorption features of likely surface frosts and primitive organic materials. These grism spectra will provide a well-calibrated database which can be used for comparison with present and future ground-based results which are necessarily compromised to some degree by telluric absorptions. This work is the product of both Guaranteed and Guest Observer time on NICMOS/HST.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: dmccarthy@as.arizona.edu