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Composition and Physical Properties of Enceladus' Surface
Robert H. Brown,1Roger N. Clark,2Bonnie J. Buratti,3Dale P. Cruikshank,4Jason W. Barnes,1Rachel M. E. Mastrapa,4J. Bauer,3S. Newman,3T. Momary,3K. H. Baines,3G. Bellucci,5F. Capaccioni,6P. Cerroni,6M. Combes,7A. Coradini,6P. Drossart,7V. Formisano,5R. Jaumann,8Y. Langevin,9D. L. Matson,3T. B. McCord,10R. M. Nelson,3P. D. Nicholson,11B. Sicardy,7C. Sotin12
Observations of Saturn's satellite Enceladus using Cassini'sVisual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer instrument were obtainedduring three flybys of Enceladus in 2005. Enceladus' surfaceis composed mostly of nearly pure water ice except near itssouth pole, where there are light organics, CO2, and amorphousand crystalline water ice, particularly in the region dubbedthe "tiger stripes." An upper limit of 5 precipitable nanometersis derived for CO in the atmospheric column above Enceladus,and 2% for NH3 in global surface deposits. Upper limits of 140kelvin (for a filled pixel) are derived for the temperaturesin the tiger stripes.
1 Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. 2 U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO 80225, USA. 3 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA. 4 NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA. 5 Instituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, 0133 Rome, Italy. 6 Instituto di Astrofisica Spaziale, 0133 Rome, Italy. 7 Observatoire de Paris-Meudon, 92195 Meudon Cedex, France. 8 Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft und Raumfahrt, 12489 Berlin, Germany. 9 Institute d'Astrophysique Spatiale, Universite de Paris, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France. 10 Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. 11 Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. 12 University of Nantes, 44072 Nantes Cedex, France.
Cassini observes the active south pole of Enceladus..
C. C. Porco, P. Helfenstein, P. C. Thomas, A. P. Ingersoll, J. Wisdom, R. West, G. Neukum, T. Denk, R. Wagner, T. Roatsch, et al. (2006)
Science
311, 1393-1401
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Cassini encounters Enceladus: background and the discovery of a south polar hot spot..
J. R. Spencer, J. C. Pearl, M. Segura, F. M. Flasar, A. Mamoutkine, P. Romani, B. J. Buratti, A. R. Hendrix, L. J. Spilker, and R. M. C. Lopes (2006)
Science
311, 1401-1405
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Identification of a dynamic atmosphere at Enceladus with the Cassini magnetometer..
M. K. Dougherty, K. K. Khurana, F. M. Neubauer, C. T. Russell, J. Saur, J. S. Leisner, and M. E. Burton (2006)
Science
311, 1406-1409
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Enceladus' varying imprint on the magnetosphere of Saturn..
G. H. Jones, E. Roussos, N. Krupp, C. Paranicas, J. Woch, A. Lagg, D. G. Mitchell, S. M. Krimigis, and M. K. Dougherty (2006)
Science
311, 1412-1415
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Cassini ion and neutral mass spectrometer: Enceladus plume composition and structure..
J. H. Waite Jr., M. R. Combi, W.-H. Ip, T. E. Cravens, R. L. McNutt Jr., W. Kasprzak, R. Yelle, J. Luhmann, H. Niemann, D. Gell, et al. (2006)
Science
311, 1419-1422
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