[Previous] | [Session 43] | [Next]

[43.05] IR Albedos and Thermal Properties of the Principal Uranian Satellites and Triton from Spitzer Space Telescope Observations

J. Van Cleve (Ball Aerospace and Tech. Corp.), D. P. Cruikshank (NASA Ames), J. A. Stansberry (U. Arizona), D. Devost (Cornell), J. P. Emery (NASA Ames), W. Glaccum (Spitzer Science Center), W. M. Grundy (Lowell Obs.), V. S. Meadows (Spitzer Science Center), H. Reitsema (Ball Aerospace and Tech. Corp.)

We present images and spectra of the rings of Uranus and its moons Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon between 3.6 and 30 microns. The moons of Uranus have 3.6 micron albedos which are <2 visual albedos of these moons span a factor of two. The rings can be seen in the 3.6 micron images, though extracting the reflected ring flux from that of the planet is a matter of some subtlety. We compare 14-30 micron spectra and 15 micron photometry of these moons to the Standard Thermal Model. We show the spectra of Neptune and Triton, which are blended in the Spitzer data analysis pipeline products because of the high brightess ratio (> 300 at 35 microns and worse at shorter wavelengths) and small separation (15 arcsec), and describe how we separated the spectra. We interpret these data in terms of surface composition, temperature, and thermal inertia.

[Previous] | [Session 43] | [Next]

Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 #4
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.