相关论文: VIPER - Student research on extraterrestrial ice p…
The Cassini mission to the Saturn system discovered a plume of ice grains and water vapor erupting from cracks on the icy surface of the satellite Enceladus. This moon has a global ocean in contact with a rocky core beneath its icy…
Saturn's moon Iapetus, which is in synchronous rotation, is covered by an optically dark material mainly on its leading side, while its trailing side is significantly brighter. Because longer wavelengths probe deeper into the subsurface,…
The core mass of Saturn is commonly assumed to be 10-25 ME as predicted by interior models with various equations of state (EOSs) and the Voyager gravity data, and hence larger than that of Jupiter (0-10 ME). We here re-analyze Saturn's…
The validity of the widely used linear mixing approximation for the equations of state (EOS) of planetary ices is investigated at pressure-temperature conditions typical for the interior of Uranus and Neptune. The basis of this study are ab…
The terrestrial planets and the asteroids dominant in the inner asteroid belt are water poor. However, in the protoplanetary disk the temperature should have decreased below water condensation level well before the disk was photoevaporated.…
Hydrogen-helium mixtures at conditions of Jupiter's interior are studied with first-principles computer simulations. The resulting equation of state (EOS) implies that Jupiter possesses a central core of 14-18 Earth masses of heavier…
We present new viscosity measurements of a synthetic silicate system considered an analogue for the lava erupted on the surface of Mercury. In particular, we focus on the northern volcanic plains (NVP), which correspond to the largest lava…
The atmosphere of Venus is characterized by strong superrotation, in which the wind velocities at cloud heights are around 60 times faster than the surface rotation rate. The reasons for this strong superrotation are still not well…
Tidal dissipation is thought to be responsible for the observed high heat loss on Enceladus. Forced librations can enhance tidal dissipation in the ice shell, but how such librations affect the thermal state of Enceladus has not been…
Our knowledge about the physical processes determining the activity of comets were mainly influenced by several extremely successful space missions, the predictions of theoretical models and the results of laboratory experiments. However,…
The interest in the structure of ice-rich planetary bodies, in particular the differentiation between ice and rock, has grown due to the discovery of Kuiper belt objects and exoplanets. We thus carry out a parameter study for a range of…
The high-precision data available from the Kepler satellite allows us to venture in the study of the complex outer convective envelopes of solar-type stars. We use a seismic diagnostic, specialized for investigating the outer layers of…
The formation of Saturn is modeled by detailed numerical simulations according to the core-nucleated accretion scenario. Previous models are enhanced to include the dissolution of accreting planetesimals, composed of water ice, rock, and…
A new experimental set-up INterStellar Ice-Dust Experiment (INSIDE), was designed for studying cosmic grain analogues represented by ice-coated carbon- and silicate-based dust grains. In the new instrument, we can simulate physical and…
The interplanetary space probe Cassini/Huygens reached Saturn in July 2004 after seven years of cruise phase. The Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) measures the interplanetary, interstellar and planetary dust in our solar system since 1999 and…
The ice shell and subsurface ocean on icy worlds are strongly coupled together -- heat and salinity flux from the ice shell induced by the ice thickness gradient drives circulation in the ocean, and in turn, the heat transport by ocean…
The immiscibility of hydrogen-helium mixture under the temperature and pressure conditions of planetary interiors is crucial for understanding the structures of gas giant planets (e.g., Jupiter and Saturn). While the experimental probe at…
Between 2004 and 2017, spectral observations have been gathered by the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) on-board Cassini (Brown et al., 2004) during 23 Enceladus close encounters, in addition to more distant surveys. The…
High spectral resolution observations of Venus were obtained with the TEXES instrument at NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility. These observations focus on a CO$_2$ absorption feature at 791.4 cm$^{-1}$ as the shape of this absorption feature…
Precision infrared photometry from Spitzer has enabled the first direct studies of light from extrasolar planets, via observations at secondary eclipse in transiting systems. Current Spitzer results include the first longitudinal…