Methane on Triton - Physical state and distribution

Abstract

Infrared spectrophotometric measurements of Neptune's satellite Triton obtained between 1980 and 1982 in the spectral range 0.8-2.5 microns show six individual absorption bands attributable to methane. An additional band in the Triton data is not methane. The Triton spectral data conform more closely to a laboratory spectrum of frozen methane than to a synthetic spectrum of methane gas computed for conditions of low temperature expected at the satellite. Additionally, the strength of the bands vary with Triton's orbital position. The data thus suggest that methane in the ice phase is mostly responsible for the bands in Triton's spectrum, and that the ice is distributed nonuniformly around the satellite's surface.