The helium abundance of Uranus from Voyager measurements

Details The helium abundance of Uranus from Voyager measurements The helium abundance of Uranus from Voyager measurements

Dec 1987

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1987jgr....9215003c&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research (ISSN 0148-0227), vol. 92, Dec. 30, 1987, p. 15003-15010. Research supported by the Institut Nat

Physics

51

Abundance, Atmospheric Composition, Helium, Planetary Composition, Uranus Atmosphere, Voyager 2 Spacecraft, Big Bang Cosmology, Gas Giant Planets, Infrared Spectroscopy, Methane, Radio Occultation

Scientific paper

Voyager radio-occultation and IR spectroscopy measurements are combined to infer an He mole fraction in the upper troposphere of Uranus of 0.152 + or - 0.033; the corresponding mass fraction is Y = 0.262 + or - 0.048. This value is in agreement with recent estimates of the solar He abundance, suggesting that He differentiation has not occurred on Uranus. Comparisons with values previously obtained for Jupiter and Saturn imply that migration of He toward the core began long ago on Saturn and may also have recently begun on Jupiter. The protosolar He abundance inferred from the Uranus measurements and from recent solar evolutionary models is used along with an assumed primordial He mass fraction of 0.23-0.24 to estimate a 3-4-percent enrichment of He in the interstellar medium between the big bang and the origin of the solar system. The result is in agreement with galactic chemical evolution models which include a substantial decrease in D during the evolutionary process.

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