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Michael J. S. Belton
Tucson Nighttime Scientific Staff
Areas of Interest
Planetary Science, Comets, Asteroids, Jupiter System
Recent Research Activities
Belton has been working with the Galileo Imaging Team, of which he is the leader, on new high resolution (up to 6 meters/pixel) images of Europa, in a search for a global water ocean beneath the ice shell surface. Proof of the presence of liquid water together with pervasive heat generation due to internal, orbital, tides is an important step in understanding if Europa is a possible abode of extraterrestrial life. The images show evidence of a very young surface distorted by the effects of thermal convection on scales of ~10 km and other localised disruptions. This points to a thin ice crust and indirectly the presence of water a few kilometers down. This work is now being extended into a search for active cryovolcanism on the surface.
Belton is continuing his work with Samarasinha and Mueller into the physical nature of active areas on cometary nuclei. The current focus is to take the spin model that we have developed for comet Halley and use the recently available analysis of OH production by Schleicher et. al. (1998) to constrain some of these properties for the Halley case. In work with Samarasinha and Julian a similar study has for the first time yielded an observational value for the thermal conductivity of cometary ice. Other cometary work that is in progress is a study of the spin state of the Rosetta target comet, P/Wirtanen, with B. Mueller and based on our observations from CTIO. In another study, based on HST observations, and conducted with K. Meech (U. Hawaii) we are investigating the stability of the inner coma of Chiron.
Service
Belton's service activities are primarily in the planetary astronomy community where he is a member of the NASA Keck/IRTF Management and Operational Working Group. In addition he is a member of the NASA Planetary Astronomy Committee, and the NASA Small Bodies Science Working Group. Within NOAO he provides appraisals and advice to the Director on planetary astronomy observing proposals. He has also sponsored two successful IDEA education outreach programs at NOAO.
SCIENTIFIC
RESEARCH PAPERS from the last 2 years
Asteroids
"Cratering on Gaspra" 1996, Icarus, 120, 231-245, with C. R. Chapman, J. Veverka, G. Neukum and D. Morrison.
"Dactyl: Galileo Observations of Ida’s Satellite," 1996, Icarus, 120, 200-211. With J. Veverka, P.C. Thomas, P. Helfenstein, P. Lee, A. Harch, S. Calvo, C. Chapman, K. Klaasen, T.V. Johnson, and M. Davies.
"Ida Lightcurves: Consistency with Galileo Shape and Photometric Models," 1996, Icarus, 120, 38-47. With D.P. Simonelli, J. Veverka, P.C. Thomas, P. Helfenstein, and B.T. Carcich,
"Ida and Dactyl: Spectral Reflectance and Color Variations," 1996. Icarus, 120, 66-76. With J. Veverka, P. Helfenstein, P. Lee, P. Thomas, C. Chapman, A. McEwen, K. Klaasen, T.V. Johnson, J. Granahan, F. Fanale, P. Geissler, and J.W. Head III.
"Galileo Photometry of Asteroid 243 Ida," 1996, Icarus, 120, 48-65. With P. Helfenstein, J. Veverka, P.C. Thomas, D.P. Simonelli, K. Klaasen, T.V. Johnson, F. Fanale, J. Granahan, A.S. McEwen, and C. Chapman.
"The Shape of Ida," 1996, Icarus, 120, 20-32. With P.C. Thomas, B. Carcich, C.R. Chapman, M.E. Davies, R. Sullivan, and J. Veverka.
"The Discovery and Orbit of 1993 (243) 1 Dactyl," 1996. Icarus, 120, 185-199. With B.E.A. Mueller, L.A. D’Amario, D.V. Byrnes, K.P. Klaasen, S. Synnott, H. Breneman, T.V. Johnson, P.C. Thomas, J. Veverka, A.C. Harch, M.E. Davies, W.J. Merline, C.R. Chapman, D. Davis, T. Denk, G. Neukum, J-M. Petit, R. Greenberg, a. Storrs, and B. Zellner.
"Cratering on Gaspra," 1996. Icarus, 120, 77-86. With C.R. Chapman, J. Veverka, G. Neukum, and D. Morrison.
"Galileo’s Encounter with 243 Ida: An Overview of the Imaging Experiment," 1996. Icarus, 120, 1-19. With C.R. Chapman, K.P. Klaasen, A.C. Harch, P.C. Thomas, J. Veverka, A.S. McEwen, and R.T. Pappalardo.
"Geology of 243 Ida," 1996. Icarus, 120, 119-139. With R. Sullivan, R. Greeley, R. Pappalardo, E. Asphaug, J.M. Moore, D. Morrison, M. Carr, C.R. Chapman, P. Geissler, R. Greenberg, J. Granahan, J.W. Head III, R. Kirk, A. McEwen, P. Lee, P.C. Thomas, and J. Veverka.
"Ejecta Blocks and 243 Ida and on Other Asteroids," 1996. Icarus, 120, 87-105. With P. Lee, J. Veverka, P.C. Thomas, P. Helfenstein, C.R. Chapman, R. Greeley, R.T. Pappalardo, R. Sullivan, and J.W. Head III.
"The Direction of the North Pole and the Control Network of Asteroid 243 Ida," 1996, Icarus, 120, 33-37. With M.E. Davies, T.R. Colvin, J. Veverka, and P.C. Thomas.
Comets and Interplenetary Dust
"Comments on the Rotational State and Non-gravitational Forces of Comet 46P/Wirtanen," 1996. Planetary and Space Sci.,44,275-281 . With N.H. Samarasinha and B.E.A. Mueller.
"Observations of Structures in the Inner Coma of Chiron with the HST Planetary Camera," 1996. Submitted to Astron. J. With K.J. Meech, M.W. Buie, N. Samarasinha, and B.E.A. Mueller,
Jupiter
"Galileo’s First Images of Jupiter and the Galilean Satellites" 1996, Science, 274, 377-385. With M.J.S. Belton, J.W. Head III, A.P. Ingersoll, R. Greeley, A.S. McEwen, K.P. Klaasen, D. Senske, R. Pappalardo, G. Collins, A.R. Vasavada, R. Sullivan, D. Simonelli, P. Geissler, M.H. Carr, M.E. Davies, J. Veverka, P.J. Gierasch, D. Banfield, M. Bell, C.R. Chapman, C. Anger, R. Greenberg, G. Neukum, C.B. Pilcher, R.F. Beebe, J.A. Burns, F. Fanale, W. Ip, T.V. Johnson, D. Morrison, J. Moore, G.S. Orton, P. Thomas, and R.A. West.
"The dynamics of Jupiter’s Atmosphere from the Galileo Orbiter Imaging System" 1997. In The Three Galileos: The Man, The Spacecraft, The Telescope, Eds. C. Barbieri, Juergen H. Rahe, Torrence V. Johnson, and Anita M. Sohus. Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. With D.B. Banfield, M. Bell, P.J. Gierasch, E. Ustinov, M. Belton, A.P. Ingersoll, A. Vasavada, and the galileo Imaging Team.
"Global Context of the Galileo-E6 Observations of Jupiter’s White Ovals" 1998. Submitted to Icarus. With A.A. Simon, R.F. Beebe, P.J. Gierasch, M.J.S. Belton, and the Galileo Imaging Team.
"Jupiter’s Cloud Structure from Galileo Imaging Data"1998. Submitted to Icarus. With D.Banfield, P.J. Gierasch, M. Bell, E. Ustinov, A.P. Ingersoll, A.R. Vasavada, M.J.S. Belton.
"Galileo Imaging of Jupiter’s Atmosphere: The Great Red Spot, Equatorial Region, and White Ovals" 1998. Submitted to Icarus. With A.R. Vasavada, A.P. Ingersoll, D. Banfield, M. Bell, P.J. Gierasch, M.J.S. Belton, K.P Klaasen, E. deJong, H.H. Breneman, and T.J. Jones.
Outer Planet Satellites and Rings
"SO2 Distributions on Io," 1996. Icarus, 122, 273-287. With P. Sartoretti and M.A. McGrath.
"Detection of Sulfur Monoxide in Io’s Atmosphere," 1996. Ap. J., 459, L107-L110. With E. Lellouch, D.F. Strobel, M.J.S. Belton, M.E. Summers, G. Paubert, and R. Moreno
"The Control Networks of the Galilean Satellites: 1997" 1998. Submitted to Icarus. With M. E. Davies, T^.R. Colvin, J. Oberst, W. Zeitler, P. Schuster, G. Neukum, A.S. McEwen, C.B. Phillips, P.C. Thomas, J. Veverka, M.J. S. Belton, and G. Schubert.
"Galileo Observations of Europa’s Opposition Effect" 1998. Submitted to Icarus. With P. Helfenstein, N. Currier, B. Clark, J. Veverka, M. Bell, R. Sullivan, R. Greeley, R. Pappalardo, J.W. Head III, T. Jones, K. Magee, K. Klaasen, P. Geissler, R. Greenberg, A. McEwen, C. Phillips, T. Colvin, M. Davies, T. Denk, and M. Belton.
"High Temperature Hotspots on Io as seen by Galileo Solid State Imaging (SSI) Experiment" 1997. Geophys. Res. Lett., 24, 2443-2446. With A.S. McEwen, D. P. Simonelli, D.R. Senske, K.P. Klaasen, L. Keszthelyi, T.V. Johnson, P.E. Geissler, M.H. Carr, and M.J.S. Belton.
"Evidence from Galileo for a subsurface ocean on Europa" 1998. Nature, in press. With M.H. Carr, M.J.S. Belton, C.R. Chapman, M.E. Davies, P. Geissler, R. Greenberg, A.S. McEwen, B.R. Tufts, R. Greeley, R. Sullivan, J.W. Head, R.T. Pappalardo, K.P. Klaasen, T.V. Johnson, J. Kaufman, D. Senske, J. Moore, G. Neukun, G. Schubert, JA. Burns, P. Thomas, J. Veverka.
"Geological evidence for solid-state convection in Europa’s ice shell" 1998. Nature, in press. With R.T. Pappalardo, J.W. Head, R. Greeley, R.J. Sullivan, C. Pilcher, G. Schubert, W. Moore, M.H. Carr, J.M. Moore, M.J.S. Belton, and D.L. Goldsby.
"Non-synchronous rotation of Europa: Indications from Galileo Observations" 1998. Nature, in press. With P.E. Geissler, R. Greenberg, G. Hoppa, P. Helfenstein, A. McEwen, R. Pappalardo, R. Tufts, M. Ockert-Bell, R. Sullivan, R. Greeley, M.J.S. Belton, T. Denk, B. Clark, J. Burns, J. Veverka, and the Galileo Imaging Team.
"Plate separation on Europa associated with widening of a dark band from a central spreading axis" 1998. Nature, in press. With R. Sullivan R. Greeley, K. Homan, J. Klemaszewski, M.J.S. Belton, M.H. Carr, C.R. Chapman, R. Tufts, J.W. Head III, R. Pappalardo, J. Moore, P. Thomas, and the Galileo SSI Team.
"Control Networks of the Galilean Satellites: Solutions for Size and Shape" 1997. In The Three Galileos: The Man, The Spacecraft, The Telescope, Eds. C. Barbieri, Juergen H. Rahe, Torrence V. Johnson, and Anita M. Sohus. Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. With M.E. Davies, T.R. Colvin, P. Thomas, J. Veverka, M.J.S. Belton, J. Oberst, W. Zeitler, G. Neukum, and G. Schubert.
"Galileo Imaging of the Jovian Ring: Evidence of Satellite and Lorentz Forces" 1998. Submitted to Icarus. With M.E. Ockert-Bell, J.A. Burns, I. Daubar, P. Thomas, J. Veverka, M.J.S. Belton, and K. Klaasen.
"The Small Inner Satellites of Jupiter" 1998. Submitted to Icarus. With P.C. Thomas, J.A. Burns, L. Rossier, D. Simonelli, J. Veverka, C.R. Chapman, K. Klaasen, T.V. Johnson, M.J.S. Belton, and the Galileo Solis State Imaging Team.
"The Shape of Io from Galileo Limb Measurements" 1998. Submitted to Icarus. With P.C. Thomas, M.E. Davies, T.R. Colvin, J. Oberst, P. Schuster, G. Neukum, M.H. Carr, A. McEwen, G. Schubert, M.J.S. Belton, and the Galileo Imaging Team.
"Galileo Search for SO2-Frost Condensation on Io’s Nightside" 1998. Submitted to Icarus. With D.P. Simonelli, J. Veverka, D.A. Senske, F.P. Fanale, G. Schuberty, and M.J.S. Belton.
"Large Impact Features on Europa: Results of the Galileo Nominal Mission" 1998. Submitted to Icarus. With J.M. Moore, E. Asphaug, R.J. Sullivan, J.E. Klemaszewski, K.C. Bender, R. Greeley, P.E. Geissler, A.S. McEwen, E.P. Turtle, C.B. Phillips, B.R. Tufts, J.W. Head III, R.T. Pappalardo, K.B. Jones, C.R. Chapman, M.J.S. belton, R.L. Kirk, and D. Morrison.
"Europa; Initial Galileo Geological Observations" 1998. Submitted to Icarus. With R. Greeley, R. Sullivan, J. Klemaszewski, K. Homan, J.W. Head III, R.T. Pappalardo, J. Veverka, B. Clark, T.V. Johnson, K.P. Klaasen, M. Belton, J. Moore, E. Asphaug, M.H. carr, G. Neukum, T. Denk, C.R. Chapman, C.B. Pilcher, P.E. geissler, R. Greenberg, and R. Tufts.
"Galileo’s Observations of Europa’s Opposition Effect" 1998. Submitted to Icarus. With P. Helfenstein, N. Currier, B. Clark, J. Veverka, M. Bell, R. Sullivan, R. Greeley, R. Pappalardo, J.W. head III, T. Jones, K, Magee, K. Klaasen, P. Geissler, R. greenberg, A. McEwen, C. Phillips, T. Colvin, M. Davies, T. Denk, and M. Belton.
"Dark Terrain on Ganymede: Geological Mapping of galileo Regio at High resolution"1998. Submitted to Icarus. With L. M. prockter, J.W. Head, D.A. Senske, R.T. Pappalardo, G. Neukum, R. Wagner, U. Wolf, J. Oberst, B. Giese, J. Moore, C.R. Chapman, P. Helfenstein, R. Greeley, H.H. Breneman, and M.J.S. Belton.
Other Topics
"Inflight performance characteristics, calibration, and utilization of the Galileo solid-state imaging camera" 1997. Opt. Eng., 36(11), 3001-3027. With K.P. Klaasen, M.J.S. Belton, H. H. Breneman, A.S. McEwen, M.E. Davies, R.J. Sullivan, C.R. Chapman, G. Neukum, and C.M. Heffernan.
"Images from the Galileo Mission" 1997, In The Three Galileos: The Man, The Spacecraft, The Telescope, Eds. C. Barbieri, Juergen H. Rahe, Torrence V. Johnson, and Anita M. Sohus. Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.
"Imaging from the Galileo Mission"1998. Proc. Of the IAU, Kyoto, Japan. With M.J.S. Belton and the galileo Imaging Team.
Major Scientific Reports (for which prime
responsibility was undertaken)
"Cruise to Jupiter" 1996. Contributions of the Galileo Imaging Science Team. Galileo Project Document 625-800
Book Reviews
"Book Review: Planetary Systems: Formation, Evolution, and Detection" by B.F. Burke, J.H. Rahe, & E.E. Roettger, (1996). Space Sci. Rev., 76, 365.
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