Lyman-alpha Induced Fluorescence of H_2 and CO in HST Spectra of a Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 Impact Site on Jupiter

Details Lyman-alpha Induced Fluorescence of H_2 and CO in HST Spectra of a Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 Impact Site on Jupiter Lyman-alpha Induced Fluorescence of H_2 and CO in HST Spectra of a Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 Impact Site on Jupiter

Sep 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996dps....28.2246w&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #28, #22.46; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 28, p.1150

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Far-ultraviolet spectra of Jupiter obtained on 1994 July 20 in the region of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 G-fragment impact site contain features which differ markedly from the typical Jovian dayglow spectrum. These features are identified as fluorescence of H_2 due to pumping by solar Lyman-alpha photons, which requires the presence of a substantial population of H_2 in the second excited vibrational state; normal atmospheric temperatures preclude such an elevated H_2 (v'' = 2) population in thermal equilibrium. The observed fluorescence includes approximately 600 rayleighs (R) of Lyman-alpha induced fluorescence in addition to the 500 R of solar fluorescence estimated for typical Jovian dayglow at the time of the observations. The weaker (14,v'') transitions of the CO Fourth Positive band system are also excited primarily by resonant and fluorescent scattering of solar Lyman-alpha photons. Due to their low oscillator strengths and the large Lyman-alpha flux, these bands remain unsaturated up to column densities >=10(17) cm(-2) , thus providing reliable upper limits for the CO band emission produced by the (14,3), (14,4), and (14,5) transitions at 1317, 1354, and 1392 Angstroms. Comparing the derived upper limits to estimates inferred from millimeter wave data, we demonstrate that there is no contradiction between observations in the two spectral regions.

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