Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Sep 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006dps....38.2718k&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #38, #27.18; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 38, p.530
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Results from the most recent analyses of resolved ethane line emission profiles from the stratosphere of Titan measured near the time of Huygens descent will be presented. Wind velocity, temperature and ethane abundance are retrieved from 11.7 µm measurements at spectral resolving powers greater than 1 000 000 using the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Heterodyne Instrument for Planetary Wind And Composition (HIPWAC) interfaced with the 8.2 meter Subaru telescope of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. Retrieved wind velocities from Doppler shifts of measured emission lines will be compared to previous infrared heterodyne studies and to results from other direct wind measurements - Huygens Doppler Wind Experiment, Doppler shifts of reflected visible radiation, and mm-wave investigations. Comparison to indirect wind retrievals from stellar occultation observations and Cassini CIRS thermal maps will also be made. An empirical altitude-dependent wind model will be presented.
The narrow ethane emission lines are analyzed to retrieve the ethane mole fraction and an attempt is made to evaluate the altitude distribution of ethane in the stratosphere for thermal profiles derived from measurements from Cassini and Huygens. Resultant ethane altitude distributions will be discussed and comparison to results from earlier HIPWAC and other remote sensing measurements and from contemporaneous Cassini/Huygens investigations will be made. Preliminary comparison suggests temporal or spatial variability in the line emission and retrieved ethane abundance in Titan's stratosphere. Evidence of possible probing of Titan's mesosphere and of mesospheric wind shear will be discussed.
This research was supported by the NASA Planetary Astronomy Program and is based on data collected at the Subaru Telescope, which is operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility.
Fast Kelly
Hewagama Tilak
Kostiuk Theodor,
Livengood Timothy A.
Sonnabend Guido
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