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Figure 1: Visible (grey) and near-infrared (black) reflectance spectra of 2005 FY9 obtained on August 1, 2005. The spectrum of Pluto (Grundy & Fink 1996), normalized at 0.6 m and the spectrum of pure methane ice, both shifted vertically, are plotted for comparison. The spectrum of 2005 FY9 is very similar to that of Pluto and reveals important features: (1) the slope of the continuum in the visible range is red, indicative of the presence of complex organics; (2) there are several CH4 ice absorption bands; (3) The methane ice absorption bands in the spectrum of 2005 FY9 are deeper than the same bands in Pluto's spectrum.

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Figure 2: Reflectance spectrum of 2005 FY9 in the visible range compared to a reflectance spectrum of Pluto (Grundy & Fink 1996; Brown & Calvin 2000), both normalized at 06 m. Vertical marks indicate the central position of pure methane ice bands (Grundy et al. 2002). (1) the slope of the continuum in the visible range is red, indicative of the presence of complex organics; (2) there are numerous absorptions bands of CH4 ice; (3) the methane ice absorption bands in the spectrum of 2005 FY9 are deeper than the same bands in Pluto's spectrum, at least at shorter wavelengths.

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Figure 3: Reflectance spectrum of 2005 FY9 in the near-infrard range compared to the reflectance spectrum of TNO 2003 UB313 (Brown et al. 2005d), normalized to match that of 2005 FY9 around 1.6 m. Notice that, apart from the different resolutions of the spectra, and within the S/N, both look very similar: the large methane ice absorption bands are observed with similar depths, indicating similar compositions.

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In the text