Showing papers in "Icarus in 2007"

TL;DR: In this article, the Schmidt number (ratio of gas to particle diusivity) is shown to rise quadratically, not linearly, with stopping time, and the particle layer becomes thinner with the strength of turbulent diusion held xed.

TL;DR: In this article, the relationship between radius and mass of the Earth-like and exoplanets was investigated using the CoRoT (Convection Rotation and Transit) data from ground-based observations.

TL;DR: In this paper, the Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) onboard the Cassini spacecraft performed the first composition measurements of Titan's ionosphere and revealed that Titan has the most compositionally complex ionosphere in the Solar System, with roughly 50 ions at or above the detection threshold.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed data recorded by the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) aboard the Cassini spacecraft during the Titan flybys T0-T10 (July 2004-January 2006).

TL;DR: The Antarctic Dry Valleys (ADV) is a hyper-arid, cold-polar desert region as mentioned in this paper, which contains a suite of landforms at macro-, meso-, and microscales that closely resemble those occurring on the martian surface.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed three Mars years of Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer (GSES) observations and produced global nightside and dayside seasonal maps of apparent thermal inertia.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors apply recently updated scaling laws for impact cratering and ejecta to interpret observations of the Deep Impact event, and conclude that even strength-dominated craters would result in a plume that appeared to remain attached to the surface.

TL;DR: The most abundant binary population is that of close binary systems among near-Earth, Mars-crossing, and main belt asteroids that have a primary diameter of about 10 km or smaller as mentioned in this paper.

TL;DR: In this paper, a first-order, three-dimensional, forward model of the ejecta plume behavior resulting from the Deep Impact was developed, and then the model parameters were adjusted to match the flyby-spacecraft observations of the actual plume, image by image.

TL;DR: In this paper, the average thermal inertia of a sample of NEAs in the km-size range is 200 ± 40 J m −2 s −0.5 K −1, indicating that the dependence of the drift rate of the orbital semimajor axis on the size of asteroids due to the Yarkovsky effect is a more complex function than the generally adopted D −1 dependence.

TL;DR: In this article, Tsiganis et al. studied the possibility that the mutual interactions between Jupiter and Saturn prevented Type II migration from driving these planets much closer to the Sun, and showed that the two planets eventually end up locked in a mean motion resonance.

TL;DR: The Cassini Titan Radar Mapper obtained Synthetic Aperture Radar images of Titan's surface during four fly-bys during the mission's first year as mentioned in this paper, showing evidence of major planetary geologic processes, including cryovolcanism.

TL;DR: In this paper, a suite of analog soils were used to explore the optical effects of nanophase iron (nFe(sup 0) on lunar soils. But, the results of these controlled experiments have implications for space-weathered material throughout the inner solar system, since cumulative space weathering products throughout the solar system will be very dependent on the specific environmental conditions under which they were produced.

TL;DR: The first Mars dust storm was initiated in the southern mid-to-low latitudes by a series of local dust storm pulses that developed along the seasonal cap edge in Malea and in Hellas basin this paper.

TL;DR: Holsapple as discussed by the authors showed that the spin limits for these more general solids have two limiting regimes: a strength regime for bodies with a diameter of more than 10 km, and an algebraic form for the dependence of spin limits on shape, mass density and material strength properties.

TL;DR: In this paper, Durda et al. investigate the morphology of size-frequency distributions resulting from impacts into 100-km-diameter parent asteroids, represented by a suite of 161 SPH/N-body simulations conducted to study asteroid satellite formation.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed two sets of spectra, one at 15° S (Tb flyby) and the other one at 80° N (T3 flyby).

TL;DR: Tomasko et al. as mentioned in this paper explored the hypothesis that the present-day methane relative humidity is maintained entirely by lakes that cover a small part of the surface area of Titan and calculated the required minimum surface area coverage of such lakes, assess the stabilizing influence of ethane, and the implications for moist convection in the atmosphere.

TL;DR: In this article, a survey of Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) narrow-angle images of gullies in the 30°-45° S latitude band includes their distribution, morphology, local topographic setting, orientation, elevation, and slopes.

TL;DR: In this article, the angular momentum of contact binary asteroids is modeled as a sphere and ellipsoid resting on each other, and the minimum energy configurations for different levels of angular momentum are computed and discussed.

TL;DR: The sizes and shapes of six icy saturnian satellites have been measured from Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) data, employing limb coordinates and stereogrammetric control points.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors model the chemical evolution of Titan, where primordial NH3 reacts with sulfate-rich brines leached from the silicate core during its hydration, and predict that Titan is being resurfaced by cryoclastic ash consisting of ice and ammonium sulfate (or its tetrahydrate), providing an abundance of sedimentary grains, a potential source of bedload for fluvial transport and erosion, and of sand-sized material for dune-building.

TL;DR: In this paper, it was shown that equilibrium tidal heating cannot explain the heat that is observed to be coming from Enceladus in an equilibrium resonant configuration with other saturnian satellites.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used the mean density of Enceladus (as determined by the Cassini mission to Saturn), observations of endogenic activity, and numerical simulations of the satellite's thermal evolution to infer that this satellite is most likely a differentiated body with a large rock-metal core of radius about 150 to 170 km surrounded by a liquid water-ice shell.

TL;DR: Gomes et al. as discussed by the authors performed new simulations of two different scenarios for the excitation and depletion of the primordial asteroid belt, assuming Jupiter and Saturn on initially circular orbits as predicted by the Nice Model of the evolution of the outer Solar System.

TL;DR: The combined observations of Saturn's moon Enceladus by the Cassini CAPS, INMS and UVIS instruments detected water vapor geysers in which were present molecular nitrogen (N 2 ), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), methane (CH 4 ), propane (C 3 H 8 ), acetylene (C 2 H 2 ), and several other species, together with all of the decomposition products of water as discussed by the authors.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors combine the Galileo spacecraft magnetometer-derived oceanic conductivities and radio Doppler data-derived interior models with laboratory conductivity vs concentration data for both magnesium sulfate solutions and terrestrial seawater to determine empirically the range of salt concentrations permitted for Europa's ocean.

TL;DR: In this article, a wavelet transform was used to analyze radial structure in the images of Saturn's rings. But the wavelet analysis locally separates signal components in frequency space, causing many structures to become evident that are difficult to observe with the naked eye.

TL;DR: In this paper, the sampling of impact melts on the Moon is strongly biased against older examples, possibly due to preferential surface deposition of such melts and/or blanketing and burial by basin ejecta (arguments that the bias might be due to pulverization of old impact melts at depth are incorrect).

TL;DR: Deep impact images of the nucleus of Comet Tempel 1 reveal pervasive layering, possible impact craters, flows with smooth upper surfaces, and erosional stripping of material as discussed by the authors.