Composition and Physical Properties of Enceladus' Surface

Observations of Saturn's satellite Enceladus using Cassini's Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer instrument were obtained during three flybys of Enceladus in 2005. Enceladus' surface is composed mostly of nearly pure water ice except near its south pole, where there are light org...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Brown, Robert H., Clark, Roger N., Buratti, Bonnie J., Cruikshank, Dale P., Barnes, Jason W., Mastrapa, Rachel M. E., Bauer, J., Newman, S., Momary, T., Baines, K. H., Bellucci, G., Capaccioni, F., Cerroni, P., Combes, M., Coradini, A., Drossart, P., Formisano, V., Jaumann, R., Langevin, Y., Matson, D. L., McCord, T. B., Nelson, R. M., Nicholson, P. D., Sicardy, B., Sotin, C.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2006
Subjects:
South Pole
South pole
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1121031
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1121031
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Summary:Observations of Saturn's satellite Enceladus using Cassini's Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer instrument were obtained during three flybys of Enceladus in 2005. Enceladus' surface is composed mostly of nearly pure water ice except near its south pole, where there are light organics, CO 2 , and amorphous and crystalline water ice, particularly in the region dubbed the “tiger stripes.” An upper limit of 5 precipitable nanometers is derived for CO in the atmospheric column above Enceladus, and 2% for NH 3 in global surface deposits. Upper limits of 140 kelvin (for a filled pixel) are derived for the temperatures in the tiger stripes.

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