EPSC Abstracts Vol. 6, EPSC-DPS2011-989, 2011 EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2011 c Author(s) 2011 Search for Absorption Features in Mercury's Ultraviolet and Visible Reflectance Properties Faith Vilas (1), Deborah L. Domingue (1), Elizabeth A. Jensen (1), Ann L. Sprague (2), Noam R. Izenberg (3), Jörn Helbert (4), Mario D'Amore (4), and Sean C. Solomon (5) (1) Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA,
[email protected]; (2) Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; (3) Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723, USA; (4) DLR, Rutherfordstrasse 2, Berlin, Germany; (5) Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC 20015, USA. Abstract foreshadow the possibility that space weathering limits compositional analyses of the spectral We discuss a search for the possible presence of reflectance acquired by the Mercury Atmospheric absorption features at ultraviolet and visible and Surface Compositional Spectrometer (MASCS) wavelengths that could be present in surface and multispectral filters of the Mercury Dual Imaging reflectance data from Mercury collected by the System (MDIS). Fortunately, data acquired by the MESSENGER spacecraft. On the basis of terrestrial geochemical experiments, the X-Ray Spectrometer and lunar studies, potential sources for such features (XRS) and Gamma-Ray and Neutron Spectrometer have been identified. Orbital and flyby reflectance (GRNS), will probe the surface elemental data from MESSENGER, categorized by geologic composition independent of the effects of space unit, are examined for these potential sources. weathering. Color variations across Mercury's surface, correlated with surface geology, elucidate variations in composition and tie them to surface 1.