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Near infrared imaging of the outer planets
| Content Provider | NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
|---|---|
| Author | Soifer, B. T. Matthews, K. |
| Copyright Year | 1991 |
| Description | In the last year we have continued our program of near infrared imaging of the outer planets of the solar system. Uranus is virtually invisible at 2.3 microns, showing that the methane is an effective absorber of the incident sunlight and that there is very little aerosol content in the upper atmosphere. On the other hand, Neptune shows a haze present over the entire Northern Hemisphere at 2.3 microns. This leads to the inference that there is an aerosol layer at a high altitude. We have recovered the Neptune satellite, 1989 N1, which was first discovered in Voyager images. The satellite is exceedingly faint in the near infrared, and was detectable only because the planet itself was comparatively faint at this wavelength. Observations of this satellite, coupled with the Voyager images, permit us to substantially refine the satellite's orbit, and hence carefully probe the gravitational field of Neptune. |
| File Size | 41366 |
| Page Count | 1 |
| File Format | |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://archive.org/details/NASA_NTRS_Archive_19920003662 |
| Archival Resource Key | ark:/13960/t78s9n41p |
| Language | English |
| Publisher Date | 1991-10-01 |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Astronomy Near Infrared Radiation Methane High Altitude Neptune Satellites Gas Giant Planets Aerosols Sunlight Gravitational Fields Infrared Astronomy Solar System Infrared Imagery Ntrs Nasa Technical Reports Server (ntrs) Nasa Technical Reports Server Aerodynamics Aircraft Aerospace Engineering Aerospace Aeronautic Space Science |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Technical Report |
