PIA12227: Cassini and Chandrayaan-1 Agree


Cassini and Chandrayaan-1 Agree

Caption:

This graph compares detailed measurements of light from the moon, called spectra, taken by the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) on NASA's Cassini spacecraft and NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument on the Indian Space Research Organization's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft.

The agreement between the two spacecraft is an excellent confirmation of the existence of water and hydroxyl (gray regions on the graph where wavelengths of infrared light range from 2.7 to 3.2 micrometers).

The red dashed lines show the thermal emission, or heat, from the moon, which must be removed to better see the signature of water. The solid lines are the spectra after this thermal emission was removed.

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target Moon
System Earth
Target Type Satellite
Mission Cassini-Huygens Chandrayaan-1
Instrument Host Cassini Orbiter Chandrayaan-1
Host Type Orbiter
Instrument Moon Mineralogy Mapper Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS)
Detector
Extra Keywords Color, Infrared, Thermal, Visual, Water
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2009-09-24
Date in Caption
Image Credit NASA/ISRO/JPL-Caltech/USGS/Brown Univ.
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA12227
Identifier PIA12227