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The Uranian satellites and Hyperion - New spectrophotometry and compositional implicationsNew reflectance spectra at 3.5 percent resolution have been obtained for Ariel, Titania, Oberon, and Hyperion in the 0.8 to 1.6-micron spectrum region. The new spectra show no absorptions other than the 1.5 micron water-ice feature (within the precision of the data), and demonstrate extension into the 0.8- to 1.6 micron region of the 1.5- to 2.5 micron spectral similarity ofo Ariel to Hyperion (Brown and Cruikshank, 1983). The new data confirm the presence of a dark, spectrally bland component on/in the water-ice surfaces of the Uranian satellites, which, with some reservations, has spectral similarities to the dark substance on the leading side of lapetus and the dark material on/in the surface of Hyperion, as well as other dark, spectrally neutral substances such as charcoal. Attempts were made to match the spectra of Ariel, Titania, and Oberon with additive reflectance mixes (aeral coverage) of fine-grained water frost and various dark components such as charcoal, lampblack, and charcoal-water-ice mixtures. The results were broad limits on the amounts of possible areal coverage of a charcoal-like spectral component on the surfaces of the Uranian satellites, but the data are not of sufficient precision to conclusively determine whether the dominant mode of contaminant dispersal is areal or voluminal. The effect of highly variegated albedos on the diameters derived by Brown, Cruikshank, and Morrison (1982) is found to be small.
Document ID
19840037444
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Brown, R. H.
(Hawaii, University Honolulu, HI, United States)
Date Acquired
August 12, 2013
Publication Date
December 1, 1983
Publication Information
Publication: Icarus
Volume: 56
ISSN: 0019-1035
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Exploration
Accession Number
84A20231
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSG-7323
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSG-7312
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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