Uranus' and Neptune's Clouds as Revealed by UKIRT/UIST Observations

Details Uranus' and Neptune's Clouds as Revealed by UKIRT/UIST Observations Uranus' and Neptune's Clouds as Revealed by UKIRT/UIST Observations

Sep 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....41.2810i&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #41, #28.10

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

In 2006, 2007 and 2008 observations of the near-infrared spectrum of Uranus were made with the UIST instrument of the UK Infrared Telescope, covering the period of Uranus’ Northern Spring Equinox. A significant change in the visible appearance of Uranus occurred during this time with the southern polar zone at 45°S fading, while a corresponding zone at 45°N began to form. In addition the visibility of the equatorial zone increased. The observed spectra were fitted using the NEMESIS optimal estimation retrieval model to determine the variation in the latitudinal and vertical cloud structure during this time. Retrievals were conducted using both the methane absorption coefficients used in our previous analyses and also a newly available revised set of methane coefficients and significant differences were seen, which will be reported.
During the Uranus observations in 2007, corresponding observations were also made of Neptune's near-infrared spectrum, albeit with substantially less spatial resolution. The spectra were nevertheless sufficient to retrieve the gross variation in Neptune's latitudinal-vertical cloud structure using both sets of methane absorption coefficients. The retrieved vertical-latitudinal cloud structure on Uranus and Neptune, observed with identical instrument setups, are directly compared and the similarities and differences will be presented and discussed.

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