Target of Opportunity Imaging of an Unusual Cloud Feature on Uranus

Details Target of Opportunity Imaging of an Unusual Cloud Feature on Uranus Target of Opportunity Imaging of an Unusual Cloud Feature on Uranus

Jul 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008hst..prop11562h&link_type=abstract

HST Proposal ID #11562. Cycle 17

Physics

Scientific paper

The planet Uranus is demonstrating increased atmospheric activity as it passes the equinox, likely in response to extreme insolation change. Convective sites in the planet's southern hemisphere reached unprecedented altitudes in 2003 {Hammel et al. 2005, Icarus 175, 284}; a bright northern feature showed the highest contrast yet detected in an outer planet atmosphere {Sromovsky et al. 2007, Icarus 192, 558}; and a dark atmospheric feature was detected by HST in late 2006 {Hammel et al. 2008, in preparation}. The historical record makes references to discrete structures {both bright and dark} on Uranus during previous equinoctial apparitions {the last equinox occurred in 1965}. The best amateur facilities are now just able to resolve the disk of Uranus and detect such activity if it is very large or has very high contrast. Amateurs also have access to a great many nights of telescope time. If a discrete cloud feature on Uranus is reported through the amateur network, we propose to obtain follow-up images with HST's WFC3. The proposed TOO images will permit determination of detailed structure of the feature at visible wavelengths, and will provide vertical and horizontal constraints on the feature's scattering properties. HST is the only facility that can provide such information at visible wavelengths. The proposal was accepted in C16, but not executed because the defined criteria for activation were not met. Because the timescales of change on Uranus are unknown, we resubmit this for Cycle 17.;

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