Computer Science
Scientific paper
Jul 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007hst..prop11190t&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #11190. Cycle 16
Computer Science
Scientific paper
After a decade of quiescence following the Voyager flybys, Uranus' atmosphere has been exhibiting increasing activity approaching equinox that suggests a short timescale, dynamical, response in addition to a long timescale, radiative, response to the seasonal change of hemispheric heating. We propose to investigate this dichotomy by measuring Uranus' vertical aerosol structure over the entire surface, including both poles, at equinox when the forcing insolation is hemispherically symmetric, requiring that the sub-Earth latitude be less than a degree. Only at equinox every 42 years can the entire surface of the planet be viewed over a full rotation and mapped with the same viewing geometry. We will probe the morphology of the vertical haze structure using NICMOS narrow band filters beyond 1 micron to isolate different altitude regimes between the stratosphere and cloud deck and investigate its change since Cycle 7. We will use two complementary approaches: First, imaging will be done using medium- and narrow-band filters first to locate the dynamically-produced discrete cloud features, then to probe their vertical structure and morphology. The methane absorption bands are stronger in the proposed near-IR 1 to 2.5 microns than at shorter wavelengths, and the strong H2 pressure-induced absorption from 2.1-2.4 microns contributes to the peak opacity. This enhances the visibility of transient, spatially isolated features and allows their structure to be probed to higher altitudes; namely, to the upper troposphere where they would be evidence of convective overshoot, a dynamical manifestation that would support strong seasonally-induced static instability. In addition to probing the structure with filter photometry, we will measure longitudinal limb profiles to probe the vertical background haze distribution vs latitude. HST/NICMOS is required because it avoids telluric water absorption and OH+O2 emission, and has a stable, well-characterized PSF, essential for limb studies and extracting the vertical structure of fine features crossing the disk. The proposed observations would complement the ground-based Uranus equinox campaign.;
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