The structure of mercury’s regolith from photometric data |
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| Authors: | V V Shevchenko |
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| Institution: | (1) Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Universitetskii pr. 13, 119899 Moscow, Russia |
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| Abstract: | The integral photometric properties of Mercury and the Moon were studied, and the similarities in the reflectance characteristics of small surface areas determined by centimeter-sized irregularities were found. The relations obtained were used to pattern the surface of the Hermean soil on a specified scale. In a first approximation, the resulting image shows the character of the photometric relief of Mercury and the fine-grained structure of the surface in a range of phase angles, where the shadow function of centimeter-sized irregularities most affects the brightness of the mantle material. Probable variations of the photometric-relief types were revealed in processing the images selected from a series obtained from the Mariner 10 flyby. According to the data analysis, three main types of photometric relief were distinguished, which correspond to different morphological types of the Hermean surface formations. The relationship between the morphological types and the properties of the surface structure of the Hermean mantle material was revealed via morphological studies.Translated from Astronomicheskii Vestnik, Vol. 38, No. 6, 2004, pp. 504–512.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2004 by Molodensky |
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