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R. Brown (University of Arizona), K. Baines (Jet Propulsion Lab), G. Bellucci (CNR, Rome), B. Buratti (JPL), F. Capaccioni, P. Cerroni (CNR, Rome), R. Clark (USGS, Denver), M. Combes (Observatoire de Paris, Meudon), A. Coradini (CNR, Rome), D. Cruikshank (NASA Ames), P. Drossart (Observatoire de Paris, Meudon), V. Formisano (CNR, Rome), R. Jaumann (DLR, Berlin), Y. Langevin (Universite' de Paris, Orsay), D. Matson (JPL), T. McCord (Space Science Institue, Boulder), V. Mennella (Osservatorio Astronomico Capodimonte, Napoli), R. Nelson (JPL), P. Nicholson (Cornell), B. Sicardy (Observatoire de Paris, Meudon), C. Sotin (Universite' de Nantes), L. Soderblom (USGS, Flagstaff), J. Barnes, C. Griffith (University of Arizona), G. Hansen (University of Washington), K. Hibbitts (APL), M. Showalter (SETI Institute)
The Cassini Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) is an imaging spectrometer working in the wavelength region 0.35-5.2 microns. The science goals of the VIMS investigation range over the entire suite of objects in the Saturn system. During the year in orbit around Saturn VIMS has made extensive observations of Saturn’s rings, its icy satellites, and had 1 distant and 6 close flybys of Titan. Results for Iapetus show the presence of water ice, bound water, CO2 complexed in a similar fashion as on Phoebe, organics and CN compounds Results for Enceladus show a surface that is almost pure water, with no detectable non-water molecular components. Some variations in the size of the individual water-ice grains is seen. The surface of Titan shows several interesting geologic structures and albedo variations, among them signs of cryovolcanism, ridge and groove topography on the scale of a few hundred meters, a bright area in the southern hemisphere that may be ground fog or surface deposits that have been eruptively emplaced, and no evidence for global-scale deposits of liquid methane. This talk will review the recent VIMS results for the surfaces of Titan, Enceladus and Iapetus.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #3
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.