Physics – Optics
Scientific paper
Jul 2000
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2000hst..prop.8634r&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #8634
Physics
Optics
Hst Proposal Id #8634 Solar System
Scientific paper
We propose snapshot observations of Uranus and Neptune to monitor changes in their atmospheres on time scales of months to years. Uranus is rapidly approaching equinox in 2007, with another 4 degrees of latitude in the northern hemisphere becoming visible every year. Recent HST images during this unique epoch {6818: Hammel, Lockwood, and Rages; 7429: Tomasko and Karkoschka; 7885: Hammel, Karkoschka, and Marley} have revealed: {i} strongly wavelength-dependent latitudinal structure, {ii} the presence of numerous visible-wavelength cloud features in the northern hemisphere, and, {iii} in the near-IR, discrete features northward of 25degrees N that have the highest contrast ever seen for a Uranian cloud {Karkoschka 1998c; Hammel et al. 1999}. Long-term ground- based observations {Lockwood and Thompson 1999} show seasonal brightness changes whose origins are not well understood. Recent IR images of Neptune {http://www2.keck.hawaii.edu:3636/realpublic/ao/neptune.html} obtained using adaptive optics on the Keck Telescope indicate that a new "Bright Companion" type of feature has recently appeared in the southern hemisphere. Snapshot observations of these two dynamic planets can supply context in which to discern the nature of long-term changes in their latitudinal atmospheric bands and to track the appearance, movement, and disappearance of discrete albedo features.
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