Exploring Jupiter's icy moons with old techniques and big facilities - new insights on sulfuric acid hydrate
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Date
2014-02-07
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Australian Institute of Physics
Abstract
Sulfuric acid hydrates have been proposed to be abundant on the surface of Europa, and hence would be important planetary-forming materials for this moon and its companions Ganymede and Callisto. Understanding of the surface features and subsurface of these moons could be advanced by firmer knowledge of the icy materials that comprise them, insight into which can be drawn from firmer knowledge of physical properties and phase behaviour of the candidate materials. We wish to present results from a study that started with the question ‘What form of sulfuric acid hydrate would form on the surface of Europa?’, with this study undertaken with in situ powder diffraction at Australian Synchrotron and ANSTO. We have used the Powder Diffraction beamline at Australian synchrotron and the Echidna (High-resolution neutron powder diffraction) instrument of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization, to obtain a number of new insights into the crystalline phases formed from H2SO4/H2O mixtures. These instruments have enabled the discovery a new water-rich sulfuric acid hydrate form, improved structural characterisation of existing forms and charting of the phase diagram of this fundamental binary system. This has revealed exciting potential for understanding more about the surface of Europa from space, perhaps even providing a window into its past.
Description
Keywords
Coherent scattering, X-ray diffraction, Electromagnetic radiation, Oxygen compounds, Planets, Sulfur compounds, Synchrotrons, Neutron diffraction, Electron spectroscopy, Solar system, Ice, ANSTO
Citation
Maynard-Casely, H. E., Avdeev, M., Wallwork, K. S., & Brand, H. E. A. (2014). Exploring Jupiter's icy moons with old techniques and big facilities - new insights on sulfuric acid hydrate. Paper presented at the 38th Annual Condensed Matter and Materials Meeting 2014, Waiheke Island Resort, Waiheke, Auckland, New Zealand, 4th February - 7th February, 2014. Retrieved from: https://physics.org.au/wp-content/uploads/cmm/2014/Wagga2014proceedings.pdf