Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union

Table of Contents - 2006 - Volume 2, Symposium S236 (Near Earth Objects, our Celestial Neighbors: Opportunity and Risk)  

Contributed Papers

X-ray fluorescence modelling for Solar system regoliths: Effects of viewing geometry, particle size, and surface roughness

Jyri Näränena1†, Hannu Parviainena1 and Karri Muinonena1

a1 Observatory, Tähtitorninmäki (PO Box 14), FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland

Abstract

Soft X-ray fluorescent emission from the surfaces of asteroids and other atmosphereless solar-system objects is studied using ray-tracing techniques. X-ray observations allow the assessment of the elemental composition and structure of the surface. The model regolith is assumed to consist of close-packed uniformly distributed spherical particles of equal size. The surface is also assumed to be rough according to a fractional-Brownian-motion model. The fluorescent X-ray emission from regolith surfaces is simulated in order to better understand the contribution of viewing-geometry -related phenomena on the signal obtained from, e.g., orbiting platforms. The first results are presented and the applicability of the methods to the interpretation of future asteroid and Mercury mission X-ray data (e.g., BepiColombo) is discussed.

Keywords

  • spectroscopy;
  • Moon: asteroids;
  • surface;
  • X-rays;
  • scattering

Footnotes

† Email: naranen@astro.helsinki.fi