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The near-Earth Asteroid 25143 Itokawa, the target of the Japanese space mission Hayabusa, was observed in June, 2004 with the Torino photopolarimeter attached at the 2.15 m telescope of the El Leoncito Observatory (Argentina). The degree of linear polarization in five colors was measured over a wide range of phase angles, between 40° and 80°. The data obtained are sufficient to derive an estimate...
We present near-IR spectra of solid CO 2 in H 2 O and CH 3 OH, and find they are significantly different from that of pure solid CO 2 . Peaks not present in either pure H 2 O or pure CO 2 spectra become evident when the two are mixed. First, the putative theoretically forbidden CO 2 (2ν3) overtone near 2.134 μm (4685 cm −1 ), that is...
We analyze the thermal infrared spectra of Jupiter obtained by the Cassini-CIRS instrument during the 2000 flyby to infer temperature and cloud density in the jovian stratosphere and upper troposphere. We use an inversion technique to derive zonal mean vertical profiles of cloud absorption coefficient and optical thickness from a narrow spectral window centered at 1392 cm −1 (7.18 μm). At...
Accurate absolute optical magnitude values (HV and HR) for Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) and Centaurs are becoming increasingly important as observations in other wavelengths, particularly SIRTF thermal infrared measurements, become available for large samples of objects. We present accurate HV and HR values for 90 KBOs and Centaurs, based on our published optical photometry. We find that our HV values...
Although the quest for tidal accelerations among the Galilean satellites has been ongoing since the beginning of the last century, no real agreement has been found so far. Using a numerical approach, we simulate the effect of tidal interactions on the evolution of Io's motion during the last century. We show how these tidal effects can vanish during the fit process to observational data. By testing...
A combination of laboratory experiments, theoretical modeling, and spacecraft observations is employed to characterize the aerosols in the atmosphere of Titan. The scattering properties of model aerosols were measured using the Microwave Analog Light Scattering Facility at the University of Florida and complemented with theoretical modeling of single scattering characteristics and radiative transfer...
Impact-induced seismic vibrations have long been suspected of being an important surface modification process on small satellites and asteroids. In this study, we use a series of linked seismic and geomorphic models to investigate the process in detail. We begin by developing a basic theory for the propagation of seismic energy in a highly fractured asteroid, and we use this theory to model the global...
A long-term project of polarimetric observations of minor planets has been carried out since 1995 at the 2.15-m telescope of the El Leoncito Observatory (San Juan, Argentina) using the Torino photopolarimeter. We present here an updated summary of the results, including many measurements obtained during the most recent observing runs. The main purpose of the observations has been to obtain albedo...
Goertz and Morfill [Goertz, C.K., Morfill, G., 1988. Icarus 53, 219–229] propose that spokes on Saturn's rings form under radially moving plasma clouds produced by meteoroid impacts. We demonstrate that the speed at which a plasma cloud can move relative to the ring material is bounded from above by the difference between the Keplerian and corotation velocities. The radial orientation of new spokes...
We have used synthetic spectra to analyze a medium resolution 2.9–4.2 μm spectrum of Saturn's temperate region observed at UKIRT using CGS4. The synthetic spectra include CH 4 , PH 3 , and NH 3 lines, for which mixing ratios were adopted from recent Cassini results. The observed absorption features in the spectrum are well accounted for by lines of these molecular species formed...
Spectro-imaging of Venus' nightside in the 2.3-μm window provides a powerful means of probing the lower atmosphere in the 25–40 km altitude range. We present observations recorded at the NASA/IRTF in February 2003 and August 2004, using the SpeX spectro-imager in the 2.1–2.5-μm region. Abundances of CO and OCS have been derived as a function of latitude for different longitudes. The CO abundance increases...
When the observational data are not enough to compute a meaningful orbit for an asteroid/comet we can represent the data with an attributable, i.e., two angles and their time derivatives. The undetermined variables range and range rate span an admissible region of Solar System orbits, which can be sampled by a set of Virtual Asteroids (VAs) selected by means of an optimal triangulation [Milani, A...
Near-infrared adaptive optics imaging of Uranus by the Keck 2 telescope during 2003 and 2004 has revealed numerous discrete cloud features, 70 of which were used to extend the zonal wind profile of Uranus up to 60° N. We confirmed the presence of a north–south asymmetry in the circulation [Karkoschka, E., 1998. Science 280, 570–572], and improved its characterization. We found no clear indication...
We present results of polarimetric observations of the Galilean satellites Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto at phase angles ranging from 0.19° to 2.22°. The observations in the UBVR filters were performed using a one-channel photoelectric polarimeter attached to 70-cm telescope of the Chuguev Observation Station (Ukraine) on November 19–December 7, 2000. We have observed the polarization opposition...
The Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa is planed to reach the Asteroid Itokawa in September 2005, and to bring back some samples of its surface to Earth in 2007. We have studied the future possible evolution of this asteroid by integrating numerically over 100 Myr a set of 39 initially indistinguishable orbits (clones), obtained either by small variations of the nominal initial conditions, or by using different...
New numerical simulations of the formation and evolution of Jupiter are presented. The formation model assumes that first a solid core of several M⊕ accretes from the planetesimals in the protoplanetary disk, and then the core captures a massive gaseous envelope from the protoplanetary disk. Earlier studies of the core accretion–gas capture model [Pollack, J.B., Hubickyj, O., Bodenheimer, P., Lissauer,...
This paper describes a “simple standard” model of water transport through regolith that includes diffusive migration and phase changes driven by damped seasonal temperature waves. A hitherto unused first-order process is then added, that can produce ice densities much greater than those allowed by the initial dry porosity. Voids are produced in cooling icy regolith when tensile stresses exceed the...
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