Disk-resolved photometric properties of Pluto

DOI

A multiwavelength regionally dependent photometric analysis of Pluto's anti-Charon-facing hemisphere using images collected by New Horizons' Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC) reveals large variations in the absolute value and spectral slope of the single-scattering albedo. Four regions of interest are analyzed: the dark equatorial belt, Pluto's north pole, nitrogen-rich regions, and the mid-latitude terrains. Regions dominated by volatile ices such as Lowell Regio and Sputnik Planitia present single-scattering albedos of ~0.98 at 492nm, almost neutral across MVIC's visible wavelength range (400-910nm), indicating limited contributions from tholin materials. Pluto's dark equatorial regions, informally named Cthulhu and Krun Maculae, have single-scattering albedos of ~0.16 at 492nm and are the reddest regions. Applying the Hapke radiative transfer model to combined MVIC and Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array (LEISA) spectra (400-2500nm) of Cthulhu Macula and Lowell Regio successfully reproduces the spectral properties of these two regions of dramatically disparate coloration, composition, and morphology. Since this model uses only a single coloring agent, very similar to the Titan like tholin of Khare+ (1984Icar...60..127K), to account for all of Pluto's colors, this result supports the Grundy+ (2016Sci...351.9189G) conclusion that Pluto's coloration is the result of photochemical products mostly produced in the atmosphere. Although cosmic rays and extreme ultraviolet photons reach Pluto's surface where they can drive chemical processing, observations of diverse surface colors do not require different chemical products produced in different environments. We report a correction scaling factor in the LEISA radiometric calibration of 0.74{+/-}0.05.

Identifier
DOI http://doi.org/10.26093/cds/vizier.51590074
Source https://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/lp/custom/CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/159/74
Related Identifier https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/AJ/159/74
Related Identifier http://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/AJ/159/74
Metadata Access http://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/pmh/pubreg.xml?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=oai_b2find&identifier=ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/159/74
Provenance
Creator Protopapa S.; Olkin C.B.; Grundy W.M.; Li J.-Y.; Verbiscer A.,Cruikshank D.P.; Gautier T.; Quirico E.; Cook J.C.; Reuter D.,Howett C.J.A.; Stern A.; Beyer R.A.; Porter S.; Young L.A.; Weaver H.A.,Ennico K.; Dalle Ore C.M.; Scipioni F.; Singer K.
Publisher CDS
Publication Year 2020
Rights https://cds.unistra.fr/vizier-org/licences_vizier.html
OpenAccess true
Contact CDS support team <cds-question(at)unistra.fr>
Representation
Resource Type Dataset; AstroObjects
Discipline Astrophysics and Astronomy; Interdisciplinary Astronomy; Natural Sciences; Observational Astronomy; Physics; Solar System Astronomy