Voyager photometry of Rhea, Dione, Tethys, Enceladus and Mimas
1984; Elsevier BV; Volume: 58; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/0019-1035(84)90042-3
ISSN1090-2643
Autores Tópico(s)Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
ResumoVoyager imaging observations provide new photometric data on Saturn's satellites at large phase angles (up to 133° in the case of Mimas) not observable from Earth. Significant new results include the determination of phase integrals ranging from 0.7 in the case of Rhea to 0.9 for Enceladus. For Enceladus we find an average geometric albedo pv = 1.04 ± 0.15 and Bond albedo of 0.9 ± 0.1. The data indicate an orbital lightcurve with an amplitude of 0.2 mag, the trailing side being the brighter. For Mimas, the lightcurve amplitude is probably less than 0.1 mag. The value of the geometric albedo of Mimas reported here, pv = 0.77 ± 0.15 (corresponding to a mean opposition magnitude V0 = +12.5) is definitely higher than the currently accepted value of about 0.5. For Dione, the Voyager data show a well-defined orbital lightcurve of amplitude about 0.6 mag, with the leading hemisphere brighter than the trailing one.
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