On measuring planetary winds using high-resolution spectroscopy in visible wavelengths

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

4

Instrumentation: Spectrographs, Methods: Data Analysis, Techniques: Spectroscopic, Planets And Satellites: Individual: Io, Planets And Satellites: Individual: Titan

Scientific paper

We present a new method that uses high-resolution spectroscopy in the visible wavelength domain to measure planetary winds. A rotating atmosphere illuminated by the Sun induces a Doppler shift in the back-scattered solar light. Its analysis with a cross-dispersed echelle spectrometer allows the direct determination of both the wind speed and direction. We describe in this paper the image and data processing algorithms used in the method and implemented in a data reduction and analysis package. Since the velocity of planetary winds leads to Doppler shifts smaller than the width of the solar lines, accurate Doppler measurements are performed by running the algorithm proposed by [CITE], which is an optimum technique using the full available spectral information. We apply the method to Io as a test case, a small slowly-rotating body with no atmosphere, to measure its solid rotation. The observations span wavelengths from 414 to 621 nm and were carried out with the Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES) on the 8.2 m Kueyen unit at the Very Large Telescope (VLT ESO). The results we obtain for Io validate the principle of the method by optimally measuring the well-known surface rotational velocity of this moon, with an uncertainty smaller than 2 m s-1. However, the analysis of the set of observations shows that systematic errors are large and one needs to consider the retrieved velocity as a lower limit.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

On measuring planetary winds using high-resolution spectroscopy in visible wavelengths does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with On measuring planetary winds using high-resolution spectroscopy in visible wavelengths, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and On measuring planetary winds using high-resolution spectroscopy in visible wavelengths will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1212934

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.