2021/05/03 by Richard Cartwright, C. B. Beddingfield, Cartwright, Richard J. +33
Physics and Astronomy · Environmental Science · #Astro and Planetary Science #Isotope Analysis in Ecology #Planetary Science and Exploration
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2105.01164
The 27 satellites of Uranus are enigmatic, with dark surfaces coated by\nmaterial that could be rich in organics. Voyager 2 imaged the southern\nhemispheres of Uranus' five largest 'classical' moons Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel,\nTitania, and Oberon, as well as the largest ring moon Puck, but their northern\nhemispheres were largely unobservable at the time of the flyby and were not\nimaged. Additionally, no spatially resolved datasets exist for the other 21\nknown moons, and their surface properties are essentially unknown. Because\nVoyager 2 was not equipped with a near-infrared mapping spectrometer, our\nknowledge of the Uranian moons' surface compositions, and the processes that\nmodify them, is limited to disk-integrated datasets collected by ground- and\nspace-based telescopes. Nevertheless, images collected by the Imaging Science\nSystem on Voyager 2 and reflectance spectra collected by telescope facilities\nindicate that the five classical moons are candidate ocean worlds that might\ncurrently have, or had, liquid subsurface layers beneath their icy surfaces. To\ndetermine whether these moons are ocean worlds, and investigate Uranus' ring\nmoons and irregular satellites, close-up observations and measurements made by\ninstruments onboard a Uranus orbiter are needed.\n