Physics
Scientific paper
Oct 2000
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2000phdt........12m&link_type=abstract
Thesis (PhD). CORNELL UNIVERSITY, Source DAI-B 61/04, p. 1991, Oct 2000, 222 pages.
Physics
4
Scientific paper
In 1994, humankind had the unique opportunity to witness directly the collisions between Jupiter and the ~20 separate fragments of Comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9. From Palomar observatory, we obtained high-resolution (λ/Δλ ~= 2000) and low-resolution (λ/Δλ ~= 100) spectra of Jupiter in the 8-14 μm spectral region from July 16 to July 24. We were able to record the actual impacts of fragments L, R and V, while continuously monitoring the aging scars from previous impact sites. Spectra of the impact sites showed no evidence for temperature enhancements at tropospheric levels. However, large brightness temperature enhancements in CH4 emission lines over the impact sites are indicative of elevated stratospheric temperatures. Enhanced NH3 abundance in the upper stratosphere is inferred from bright emission cores superimposed on the normal broad NH3 absorption lines. A broad emission feature seen at ~10 μm in nearly all low- resolution spectra of impact sites is similar to silicate emission features observed in most comets. Detailed characteristics of the SL9 spectra, however, differ from those of cometary spectra, probably because the original silicate particles underwent vaporization and recondensation during the impacts. In May, August and November 1995, Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations during Saturn's ring plane crossings (RPX) allowed us to view several faint saturnian satellites normally hidden to Earth-based observers in the glare of the rings. New measurements of Janus, Epimetheus, Prometheus and Pandora have been combined to form revised orbital solutions based on the three HST data sets. While most satellites were found to be close to their expected positions based on previous orbital solutions, Prometheus consistently lagged behind its predicted longitude by 18.85° +/- 0.04°, as first noted by Bosh and Rivkin (1995). A previously unsuspected systematic drift in Pandora's longitude of -1.85° relative to the Voyager ephemeris was observed between May and November. Refined methods of subtracting light from the edge-on rings have led to additional detections of objects S/1995-S1 and S3 (Bosh and Rivkin 1995) in the May data, and S/1995-S5, S6, S7 (Nicholson et al. 1995) and S/1995-S9 (Roddier et al. 1995) in the August images. S1 is again identified with Atlas, but leads its predicted position by ~25°. S3 has an orbit consistent with that of the narrow F ring, but S5, S6, S7 and S9 now appear to orbit ~530-950 km interior to this ring. S7 and S9 may even be coorbital with Prometheus, ~800 km interior to the F ring. An object in the May images, possibly corresponding to S7, is also found to lie very close to Prometheus' orbit, but no analogous object in this orbit was seen in the November data set. In addition to these previously-reported objects, eight new objects were identified during multiple HST visits in May or August; all have orbits consistent with that of the F ring and are likely to have been short-lived clumps within this ring, similar to those seen in Voyager images (Smith et al. 1981 or Showalter 1997).
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