Composition and Physical Properties of Enceladus' Surface

• Published in: Science
• Main Authors: Brown, Robert H., Clark, Roger N., Buratti, B. J., Cruikshank, Dale P., Barnes, Jason W., Mastrapa, Rachel M. E., Bauer, J., Newman, S., Momary, Thomas W., Baines, Kevin H., Bellucci, Giancarlo, Capaccioni, Fabrizio, Cerroni, Priscilla, Combes, Michel, Coradini, Angioletta, Drossart, Pierre, Formisano, Vittorio, Jaumann, Ralf, Langevin, Yves, Matson, Dennis L., Mccord, Thomas B., Nelson, Robert M., Nicholson, Philip D., Sicardy, Bruno, Sotin, Christophe
• Other Authors: Lunar and Planetary Laboratory University of Arizona (LPL), University of Arizona, US Geological Survey, Flagstaff, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NASA-California Institute of Technology (CALTECH), SETI Institute, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (IFSI), National Research Council of Italy, Instituto di Astrofisica Spaziale - CNR, Area della recerca di Tor Vergata, Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL), Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique (LESIA), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Pôle Planétologie du LESIA, Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique = Laboratory of Space Studies and Instrumentation in Astrophysics (LESIA), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité), Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Institut d'astrophysique spatiale (IAS), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National d’Études Spatiales Paris (CNES), Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Université de Nantes (UN)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2006
• Subjects: [PHYS.ASTR]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]; South Pole; South pole
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03786507; https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1121031

International audience 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.