Vacuum ultraviolet photoabsorption of prime ice analogues of Pluto and Charon

S Pavithraa; J-I Lo; K Rahul; B N Raja Sekhar; B-M Cheng; N J Mason; B Sivaraman

doi:10.1016/j.saa.2017.08.060

Vacuum ultraviolet photoabsorption of prime ice analogues of Pluto and Charon

Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2018 Feb 5:190:172-176. doi: 10.1016/j.saa.2017.08.060. Epub 2017 Aug 26.

Authors

S Pavithraa¹, J-I Lo², K Rahul¹, B N Raja Sekhar³, B-M Cheng², N J Mason⁴, B Sivaraman⁵

Affiliations

¹ Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad 380 009, India.
² National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu 30076, Taiwan.
³ Atomic and Molecular Physics Division, BARC at RRCAT, Indore 452 013, India.
⁴ Department of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK.
⁵ Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad 380 009, India. Electronic address: bhala@prl.res.in.

PMID: 28922643
DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2017.08.060

Abstract

Here we present the first Vacuum UltraViolet (VUV) photoabsorption spectra of ice analogues of Pluto and Charon ice mixtures. For Pluto the ice analogue is an icy mixture containing nitrogen (N₂), carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH₄) and water (H₂O) prepared with a 100:1:1:3 ratio, respectively. Photoabsorption of icy mixtures with and without H₂O were recorded and no significant changes in the spectra due to presence of H₂O were observed. For Charon a VUV photoabsorption spectra of an ice analogue containing ammonia (NH₃) and H₂O prepared with a 1:1 ratio was recorded, a spectrum of ammonium hydroxide (NH₄OH) was also recorded. These spectra may help to interpret the P-Alice data from New Horizons.

Keywords: Astrochemistry‑methods; Laboratory; Solid state‑techniques; Spectroscopic.