Related papers: Regional study of Europa's photometry
This activity has been developed as a resource for the "EU Space Awareness" educational programme. As part of the suite "Our Fragile Planet" together with the "Climate Box" it addresses aspects of weather phenomena, the Earth's climate and…
Context. Young, solar analogue stars provide key insights into the early stages of stellar evolution, particularly in terms of magnetic activity and rotation. Their rapid rotation, high flaring rate, and enhanced surface activity make them…
Optical phase curves of hot Jupiters can reveal global scattering properties. We implement a Bayesian inference framework for optical phase curves with flux contributions from: reflected light from a potentially inhomogeneous atmosphere,…
We present near-infrared high-dispersion spectroscopic observations of Europa using the Infrared Camera and Spectrograph (IRCS) onboard the Subaru Telescope, seeking direct evidence of water plumes on Europa and exploring spatial variations…
The analysis of the surface texture from the particle (grain size, shape and internal structure) to its organization (surface roughness) provides information on the geological processes. CRISM multi-angular observations (varied emission…
Most stars end their main-sequence (MS) lives by evolving through the red-giant and asymptotic-giant branches before ending as a quiescent, stable white dwarf. Therefore, it is imperative to model the post-MS as it relates to long-term…
Europa's surface composition and physical characteristics are commonly constrained using spectral deconvolution through linear mixture (LM) modeling and radiative transfer-based (RT) intimate mixture modeling. Here, I compared the results…
Solar images taken simultaneously at different wavelengths in the EUV are widely used for understanding structures such as flares, coronal holes, loops, etc. The line-of-sight integration and the finite spectral resolution of EUV…
Recent observations from the Hubble Space Telescope show a mid-UV absorption feature localized to leading hemisphere chaos regions on Europa. The same regions were previously found to have a visible absorption at 450 nm that was attributed…
In this paper, we look at space weathering processes on the icy surface of Jupiter's moon Europa. The heavy energetic ions of the Jovian plasma (H+, O+, S+, C+) can erode the surface of Europa via ion sputtering (IS), ejecting up to 1000…
Future telescopes will characterize rocky exoplanets in reflected light, revealing their albedo, which depends on surface, cloud, and atmospheric properties. Identifying these features is crucial for assessing habitability. We present…
We develop an inversion technique of annual scattered light curves to sketch a two-dimensional albedo map of exoplanets in face-on orbits. As a test-bed for future observations of extrasolar terrestrial planets, we apply this mapping…
A Viking-class Europa Lander is a high-risk, high-cost venture. In its place, Europa should be explored by a series of low-cost scouts. These will be landers and small flyby craft. These missions will ascertain the nature of Europa's…
The paper discusses the possibility of dust particles containing living bacteria ejected from Earth, reaching Europa and landing on its surface. It is shown that, taking certain factors into account, over a period of (30-80) Myr (the…
Observations of the Sun in the visible spectral range belong to standard measurements obtained by instruments both on the ground and in the space. Nowadays, both nearly continuous full-disc observations with medium resolution and dedicated…
We present a global spectrophotometric characterization of the Ceres surface using Dawn Framing Camera (FC) images. We identify the photometric model that yields the best results for photometrically correcting images. Corrected FC images…
Context. Reflected light from a spatially unresolved planet yields unique insight into the overall optical properties of the planet cover. Glories are optical phenomena caused by light that is backscattered within spherical droplets…
We consider a wavefront model for the spread of Neolithic culture across Europe, and use Bayesian inference techniques to provide estimates for the parameters within this model, as constrained by radiocarbon data from Southern and Western…
To date, a handful of exoplanets have been photometrically mapped using phase-modulated reflection or emission from their surfaces, but the small amplitudes of such signals have limited previous maps almost exclusively to coarse dipolar…
Photometric light curves suffer from fundamental degeneracies that limit surface information recovery. We demonstrate that astrometry enables access to complementary information through photocentre variations induced by rotating surface…