Authors: Grav Tommy and Bauer James
%F: AA(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, MS 51, 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Dr., Honolulu, HI 86822, USA), AB(Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, MS 183-501, 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, CA 91109, USA)
Title: A deeper look at the colors of the saturnian irregular satellites
Abstract: We have performed broadband color photometry of the twelve brightest irregular satellites of Saturn with the goal of understanding their surface composition, as well as their physical relationship. We find that the satellites have a wide variety of different surface colors, from the negative spectral slopes of the two retrograde satellites S IX Phoebe (S′=−2.5±0.4) and S XXV Mundilfari (S′=−5.0±1.9) to the fairly red slope of S XXII Ijiraq (S′=19.5±0.9). We further find that there exist a correlation between dynamical families and spectral slope, with the prograde clusters, the Gallic and Inuit, showing tight clustering in colors among most of their members. The retrograde objects are dynamically and physically more dispersed, but some internal structure is apparent.
Keywords: analytical, faint, observation, parameter, photometric, planetology, Saturn, theory
Journal: Icarus
Volume: 191
Number: 1
Pages: 267-285
Year: 2007
Bibliogaphic Code: 2007Icar..191..267G
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