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Authors: Thomas P. and Veverka J.
Year: 1982
Title: Amalthea
Book title: In: Satellites of Jupiter. (A83-16226 04-91) Tucson, AZ, University of Arizona Press, 1982
Publisher: Tucson, AZ, University of Arizona Press
Pages: 147-173
Keywords: Jupiter, small, planetology
Abstract: Voyager images have revealed Amalthea to be an irregular object 270 x 165 x 150 km in size. The spin period is probably synchronous with the orbital period of 11.9 hr, with the long axis pointing toward Jupiter. The satellite's surface is heavily scarred by impact craters, the largest of which has a diameter of 90 km (comparable to the mean radius of the satellite). Amalthea is very dark (reflectance about 5-6%) and very red, but isolated bright spots (reflectance up to 20%) occur. The spectrum of these bright spots is less red and may show an absorption feature near 0.6 micron. It is likely that the surface of Amalthea has been severely altered by its environment and by contamination from Io (especially by sulfur). It may, therefore, be very difficult to obtain definitive information on the composition of the intrinsic Amalthea material from remote sensing measurements.
%F: AB(Cornell University, Ithaca, NY)
Bibliogaphic Code: 1982stjp.conf..147T

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