The wavelength dependence of Triton's light curve

Details The wavelength dependence of Triton's light curve The wavelength dependence of Triton's light curve

Oct 1991

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1991jgr....9619211h&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research Supplement (ISSN 0148-0227), vol. 96, Oct. 30, 1991, p. 19,211-19,215.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

15

Light Curve, Satellite Surfaces, Triton, Amplitudes, Astronomical Photometry, Satellite Atmospheres, Voyager 2 Spacecraft

Scientific paper

Using Voyager observations, it is demonstrated that Triton's orbital light curve is strongly wavelength-dependent, a characteristic which readily explains some of the apparent discrepancies among pre-Voyager telescopic measurements. Specifically, a light curve amplitude (peak to peak) is found that decreases systematically with increasing wavelength from about 0.08 magnitude (peak to peak) near 200 nm to less than 0.02 magnitude near 1000 nm. Peak brightness occurs near 90 deg orbital longitude (leading hemisphere). The brightness variation across this hemisphere is close to sinusoidal; the variation across the darker hemisphere is more complex. The decrease in light curve amplitude with increasing wavelength appears to be due to a decrease in contrast among surface markings, rather than to atmospheric obscuration. The model also explains the observed decrease in the amplitude of Triton's light curve at visible wavelengths over the past decade, a decrease related to the current migration of the subsolar latitude toward the south pole; it is predicted that this trend will continue into the 1990s.

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