Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Sep 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....41.2809l&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #41, #28.09
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
A detectable level of carbon monoxide is not predicted by thermochemical models of Neptune's upper atmosphere, so its discovery in 1992 was unexpected (Rosenqvist et al. 1992). Its presence suggests that CO is either transported from Neptune's deep interior by convection, or produced in the stratosphere by photosynthesis of hydrocarbons with externally supplied oxygen. Both of these scenarios would have important implications for Neptune's interior and exterior environments, as well as wider implications for the understanding of planetary disk evolution and ice giant formation. We present new measurements of the full line shape of the CO J=2-1 and J=1-0 transitions from the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) that include the first spatially resolved measurements of CO in Neptune's atmosphere. The analysis of two different CO lines allows us to constrain the absolute abundance of CO in the different atmospheric layers despite Neptune's changing temperature-pressure profile. By spatially resolving Neptune in CO, we are able to measure possible latitudinal gradients, which we might expect if CO is being driven upwards from the deep interior by a global circulation. Such a circulation pattern has been suggested by previous mid-IR and radio data.
de Pater Imke
Luszcz-Cook Statia H.
Plambeck Richard L.
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