5-mu M Observations of Saturn and Its Rings

Details 5-mu M Observations of Saturn and Its Rings 5-mu M Observations of Saturn and Its Rings

Sep 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996dps....28.1902y&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #28, #19.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 28, p.1128

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Starting in 1995, with the rings in their edge-on presentation, we began a program to observe Saturn and its ring system in the near- and mid-infrared. Among the observed wavelengths, images in the 5-mu m window were obtained. The interference from the rings was minimal during ring plane crossing window of 1995; the rings were at their maximum opening in August 1996. Using a ``narrow-band M'' filter (centered at 4.77 mu m, with a 0.23-mu m width), striking zonal \underbar∧ meridional structure was observed in both hemispheres of Saturn at all longitudes. The observed radiation is a combination of reflected sunlight and thermal emission from both the planet and the rings. In September 1995 the northern hemisphere was brighter than the corresponding southern latitudes. Because shorter wavelengths, dominated by reflected sunlight, do not show this hemispherical asymmetry, we interpret this as being an indication of generally less opaque clouds which pass greater amounts of thermal radiation from below. Our August 1996 observations show that the southern hemisphere of Saturn was brighter than the north at the same wavelength. As the sun was south of the ring plane, it implies that seasonal insolation controls the optical thickness of the clouds. No obvious 5-mu m ``hot spots'' (similar to those observed on Jupiter) are seen, but a quasi-periodic structure is observable between the equator and some 10(deg) S latitude, with wavenumber ~ 9. A dark region of high clouds also persists near 40-40(deg) S latitude, as well. The lit southern face of the rings indicate thermally bright homogeneous particles. We will present analysis of the determination of the depths of the clouds in Saturn's atmosphere and modelling of the rings in terms of particle properties. This work was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology under contract with NASA.

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