Publication Date:
2019-06-28
Description:
The spectral reflectance from 0.38 to 0.75 micron of a column of liquid sulfur has been measured at several temperatures between the melting point (approximately 118 C) and 173 C. Below 160 C the spectral reflectance was observed to vary reversibly as a function of temperature, indepenent of the previous thermal history of the column. Once the temperature exceeded 160 C, the spectrum would not change given a subsequent decrease in temperature. The spectral reflectance of the liquid-sulfur column at all temperatures was very low (10-19 percent). Combining this information with Voyager spectrophotometry of Jupiter's satellite Io, it is concluded that liquid sulfur at any temperature on Io's surface would be classified as a 'black area' according to the standards used by the Voyager imaging team in their spectrophotometric analysis (Soderblom, Johnson, Morrison, Danielson, Smith, Veverka, Cook,Sagan, Kupferman, Pieri, Mosher, Avis, Gradie, and Clancy /1980/.
Keywords:
ASTRONOMY
Type:
Icarus (ISSN 0019-1035); 56; 409-413
Format:
text
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