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J. P. Emery (NASA Ames/SETI Institute), D. M. Burr (USGS), R. H. Brown (Univ. Arizona), J. B. Dalton (NASA Ames/SETI Institute)
Spectral measurements from the ground in the time leading up to the Cassini mission at Saturn provide important context for the interpretation of the forthcoming spacecraft data. Whereas ground-based observations cannot begin to approach the spatial scales Cassini will achieve, they do possess the benefits of better spectral resolution and a broader possible time baseline. In this spirit, we present recent NIR reflectance spectra of four icy satellites of Saturn measured with the SpeX instrument at the IRTF. These measurements cover the range 0.8 – 4.0 microns of both the leading and trailing sides of Tethys and the leading side of Rhea. The L-band region (2.8 – 4.0 microns) offers new opportunities for searches of minor components on these objects. Additionally, these data include 0.8 – 2.5 micron spectra of both the leading and trailing sides of Mimas and of the (mostly) leading side of Enceladus. We will describe searches for and upper limits on minor components (H2O ice being the major component) in these data, compare with current and previous data sets, and discuss the relevance to the new data being obtained by Cassini.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: jemery@mail.arc.nasa.gov
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 #4
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.