Detection of Sub-Micron Radiation from the Surface of Venus by Cassini/VIMS

✍ Scribed by Kevin H. Baines; Giancarlo Bellucci; Jean-Pierre Bibring; Robert H. Brown; Bonnie J. Buratti; Ezio Bussoletti; Fabrizio Capaccioni; Priscilla Cerroni; Roger N. Clark; Angioletta Coradini; Dale P. Cruikshank; Pierre Drossart; Vittorio Formisano; Ralf Jaumann; Yves Langevin; Dennis L. Matson; Thomas B. McCord; Vito Mennella; Robert M. Nelson; Philip D. Nicholson; Bruno Sicardy; Christophe Sotin; Gary B. Hansen; John J. Aiello; Stefania Amici

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 125 KB
• Volume: 148
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0019-1035
• DOI: 10.1006/icar.2000.6519

✦ Synopsis

We report the first detection and profile characterization of thermal emission from the surface of Venus at 0.85 and 0.90 µm, observed in the first planetary spectrum acquired by the Visual-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer onboard the Cassini spacecraft en route to the Saturn system. The strength and shape of these two newly observed nightside emissions agree with theoretical predictions based on the strength of the strong emission observed at 1.01 µm. These emissions, together with previously-reported surface emission features at 1.01, 1.10, and 1.18 µm, potentially provide a new technique for remotely mapping the mineralogical composition of the venusian surface.