HR: 10:50h
AN: P22A-03    [Abstracts]
TI: The Icy Saturnian Satellites as seen by Cassini UVIS
AU: * Hendrix, A
EM: hendrix@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory/CalTech, 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AB: After more than one year in orbit around Saturn, the Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph continues to obtain a wealth of exciting data from the icy satellites in the Saturn system. Close flybys of Phoebe, Iapetus, Enceladus and Mimas have already taken place and have revealed the icy nature of the surfaces and environments of the moons. During the autumn of 2005, several more close flybys will occur, including Tethys (September 24 2005), Hyperion (September 26 2005), Dione (October 11 2005) and Rhea (November 18 2005); these encounters promise to result in equally interesting datasets. The UVIS instrument, covering the 50-190 nm wavelength range, provides high resolution spectral information as well as UV images of the icy satellites. This wavelength range includes several distinctive ice and vapor absorption bands, in addition to many emission features. We present the latest results from the ongoing analysis of the datasets, including the investigation of evidence of tenuous atmospheres, modeling of the FUV reflectance spectra to determine surface composition and ice grain sizes, and intercomparisons of satellite datasets to investigate variations in spectra relative to position in magnetosphere.
DE: 6020 Ices
DE: 6280 Saturnian satellites
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005