Haze at Occator crater on dwarf planet Ceres

G. Thangjam, M. Hoffmann, A. Nathues, J.-Y. Li, T. Platz
(Submitted on 20 Jan 2017)

A diurnal varying haze layer at the bright spots of Occator on dwarf planet Ceres has been reported from images of the Dawn Framing Camera. This finding is supported by ground-based observations revealing diurnal albedo changes at Occator’s longitude. In the present work, we further investigate the previously reported haze phenomenon in more detail using additional Framing Camera images. We demonstrate that the light scattering behavior at the central floor of Occator is different compared to a typical cerean surface and is likely inconsistent with a pure solid surface scatterer. The identified deviation is best explained by an additional component to the scattered light of the surface, i.e., a haze layer. Our results support the water vapor detection by Herschel observations though the existence of a tenuous cerean exosphere is not yet confirmed.

Comments:    2016 ApJL 833 L25
Subjects:    Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
DOI:    10.3847/2041-8213/833/2/L25
Cite as:    arXiv:1701.05812 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:1701.05812v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)
Submission history
From: Guneshwar Thangjam
[v1] Fri, 20 Jan 2017 14:47:06 GMT (995kb)
https://arxiv.org/abs/1701.05812