Publication Date:
2011-08-17
Description:
Pioneers 10 and 11 have transmitted seven images of the Galilean satellites with surface resolutions on the order of several hundred kilometers. Because the point-spread function is well determined, it has been possible to measure the radius of each of the four satellites to a precision of typically plus or minus 30 km. The method used fits a semicircle to the illuminated limb by varying the center coordinates and radius until the best-fit criteria are satisfied. Careful attention is given to locating the true edge position within the blurred image. The radius determinations and corresponding densities for the satellites are: Io (1840 plus or minus 30, 3.41 plus or minus 0.19), Europa (1552 plus or minus 20, 3.06 plus or minus 0.15), Ganymede (2650 plus or minus 25, 1.90 plus or minus 0.06), and Callisto (2420 plus or minus 20, 1.81 plus or minus 0.05), where the units are in kilometers and grams per cubic centimeters, respectively.
Keywords:
LUNAR AND PLANETARY EXPLORATION
Type:
Icarus; 35; Aug. 197
Format:
text
