1. Spatially resolved observations of Europa's surface with Subaru/IRCS at 1.0-1.8 $��m$: Upper limits to the abundances of hydrated Cl-bearing salts
- Author
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Tan, Shuya, Sekine, Yasuhito, and Kuzuhara, Masayuki
- Subjects
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP) ,FOS: Physical sciences - Abstract
Recent infrared observations at 1.5-4.0 $��m$ using large ground-based telescopes have suggested that Cl-bearing salts are likely present on Europa's surface as non-ice materials. The chemical compositions of those Cl-bearing salts are key to understanding Europa's ocean chemistry and habitability. Here we report the results of ground-based telescope observations of Europa across two wavelength ranges, 1.0-1.5 and 1.5-1.8 $��m$, of which the former range includes absorption features owing to some hydrated Cl-bearing salts. We obtained spatially resolved reflectance spectra using the Subaru Telescope/IRCS and the adaptive optics system AO188 with high wavelength resolutions ($����$ ~ 2 nm for 1.0-1.5 $��m$ and $����$ ~ 0.9 nm for 1.5-1.8 $��m$) and low noise levels (1$��$ ~ 1-2 $\times$ 10$^{-3}$). We found no clear absorption features at ~1.2 $��$m caused by hydrated Cl-bearing salts. We estimated that conservative upper limits to the abundances of MgCl$_2$$\cdot$nH$_2$O, NaClO$_4$$\cdot$2H$_2$O, Mg(ClO$_3$)$_2$$\cdot$6H$_2$O, and Mg(ClO$_4$)$_2$$\cdot$6H$_2$O on Europa are 17% ( ~20%) on Europa based on previous observations. This supports the idea that Cl-bearing salts on Europa are likely anhydrous Na salts of NaCl and/or NaClO$_4$, or hydrated NaCl$\cdot$2H$_2$O. The presence of Na salts suggests that Na$^+$ could be the major cation in Europa's ocean, which would be possible if the oceanic pH is circumneutral or alkaline., 42 pages, 14 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in PSJ
- Published
- 2022
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