Longitudinal Variation of H2O Ice Absorption on Miranda
Many tidally locked icy satellites in the outer solar system show leading/trailing hemispherical asymmetries in the strength of near-infrared (NIR) H _2 O ice absorption bands, in which the absorption bands are stronger on the leading hemisphere. This is often attributed to a combination of magnetos...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2022-01-01
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| Series: | The Planetary Science Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ac694e |
| _version_ | 1797326923133616128 |
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| author | Riley A. DeColibus Nancy J. Chanover Richard J. Cartwright |
| author_facet | Riley A. DeColibus Nancy J. Chanover Richard J. Cartwright |
| author_sort | Riley A. DeColibus |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Many tidally locked icy satellites in the outer solar system show leading/trailing hemispherical asymmetries in the strength of near-infrared (NIR) H _2 O ice absorption bands, in which the absorption bands are stronger on the leading hemisphere. This is often attributed to a combination of magnetospheric irradiation effects and impact gardening, which can modify grain size, expose fresh ice, and produce dark contaminating compounds that reduce the strength of absorption features. Previous research identified this leading/trailing asymmetry on the four largest classical Uranian satellites but did not find a clear leading/trailing asymmetry on Miranda, the smallest and innermost classical moon. We undertook an extensive observational campaign to investigate variations of the NIR spectral signature of H _2 O ice with longitude on Miranda’s northern hemisphere. We acquired 22 new spectra with the TripleSpec spectrograph on the ARC 3.5 m telescope and four new spectra with GNIRS on Gemini North. Our analysis also includes three unpublished and seven previously published spectra taken with SpeX on the 3 m IRTF. We confirm that Miranda has no substantial leading/trailing hemispherical asymmetry in the strength of its H _2 O ice absorption features. We additionally find evidence for an anti-Uranus/sub-Uranus asymmetry in the strength of the 1.5 μ m H _2 O ice band that is not seen on the other Uranian satellites, suggesting that additional endogenic or exogenic processes influence the longitudinal distribution of H _2 O ice band strengths on Miranda. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T06:31:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-48d2d551adbe4057b2f89ff9510190f9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2632-3338 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T06:31:10Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Planetary Science Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-48d2d551adbe4057b2f89ff9510190f92024-02-03T11:31:34ZengIOP PublishingThe Planetary Science Journal2632-33382022-01-013511910.3847/PSJ/ac694eLongitudinal Variation of H2O Ice Absorption on MirandaRiley A. DeColibus0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1647-2358Nancy J. Chanover1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9984-4670Richard J. Cartwright2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6886-6009Department of Astronomy, New Mexico State University , Box 30001, Dept. 4500, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA ; decolib@nmsu.eduDepartment of Astronomy, New Mexico State University , Box 30001, Dept. 4500, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA ; decolib@nmsu.eduThe Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute , 189 Bernardo Avenue, Suite 200, Mountain View, CA 94043, USAMany tidally locked icy satellites in the outer solar system show leading/trailing hemispherical asymmetries in the strength of near-infrared (NIR) H _2 O ice absorption bands, in which the absorption bands are stronger on the leading hemisphere. This is often attributed to a combination of magnetospheric irradiation effects and impact gardening, which can modify grain size, expose fresh ice, and produce dark contaminating compounds that reduce the strength of absorption features. Previous research identified this leading/trailing asymmetry on the four largest classical Uranian satellites but did not find a clear leading/trailing asymmetry on Miranda, the smallest and innermost classical moon. We undertook an extensive observational campaign to investigate variations of the NIR spectral signature of H _2 O ice with longitude on Miranda’s northern hemisphere. We acquired 22 new spectra with the TripleSpec spectrograph on the ARC 3.5 m telescope and four new spectra with GNIRS on Gemini North. Our analysis also includes three unpublished and seven previously published spectra taken with SpeX on the 3 m IRTF. We confirm that Miranda has no substantial leading/trailing hemispherical asymmetry in the strength of its H _2 O ice absorption features. We additionally find evidence for an anti-Uranus/sub-Uranus asymmetry in the strength of the 1.5 μ m H _2 O ice band that is not seen on the other Uranian satellites, suggesting that additional endogenic or exogenic processes influence the longitudinal distribution of H _2 O ice band strengths on Miranda.https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ac694eUranian satellitesPlanetary surfacesSurface compositionSurface icesSurface processes |
| spellingShingle | Riley A. DeColibus Nancy J. Chanover Richard J. Cartwright Longitudinal Variation of H2O Ice Absorption on Miranda The Planetary Science Journal Uranian satellites Planetary surfaces Surface composition Surface ices Surface processes |
| title | Longitudinal Variation of H2O Ice Absorption on Miranda |
| title_full | Longitudinal Variation of H2O Ice Absorption on Miranda |
| title_fullStr | Longitudinal Variation of H2O Ice Absorption on Miranda |
| title_full_unstemmed | Longitudinal Variation of H2O Ice Absorption on Miranda |
| title_short | Longitudinal Variation of H2O Ice Absorption on Miranda |
| title_sort | longitudinal variation of h2o ice absorption on miranda |
| topic | Uranian satellites Planetary surfaces Surface composition Surface ices Surface processes |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ac694e |
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