UV-Visible Spectra of Icy and not-so-Icy Solar System Surfaces: Compositional Clues
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Dr. Amanda Hendrix
Director and Chief Executive Officer
Planetary Science Institute
Spectroscopic signatures of water in various forms on planetary surfaces can be important tracers for studying the formation, thermal evolution, and dynamical evolution of different worlds, and for studying the processing of their surfaces, including icy bodies such as the moons of Saturn and aqueously altered bodies such as some types of asteroids. Through this lens of water and aqueous alteration, I will address several areas in which we have been working to advance the field of spectroscopy - particularly ultraviolet spectroscopy - of solar system surfaces. I will focus on work developed through our Toolbox for Research and Exploration (TREX) program; analyses of lunar water observed by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter; primitive asteroids and icy and not-so-icy satellites observed by instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope and icy satellites observed by instruments on the Cassini spacecraft.