Planetary Fabry-Perot spectroscopy

Abstract

Application of high spectral resolution, Earth-based Fabry-Perot spectroscopy to the study of planetary atmospheres, for which current topics are outer planet HD and H2 spectra (atmospheric structure, D/H ratio), Mars CO2, CO, O2, and H2O spectra (atomspheric photochemistry), Venus H2O and HDO, associated laboratory spectroscopy (especially H2 overtone bands, HDO) was accomplished. Monochromatic charge coupled device (CCD) imaging photometry of the Jovian nebula, with images taken in rapid sequence among the diagnostic spectral lines of ionized sulfur species, provided self-supporting snapshots of the Jupiter/Io plasma conditions (spatially resolved electron and ion densities and temperatures), covering the post-Voyager period from 1981 and leading up to the Galileo tour in the early 1990s. High spectral resolution Fabry-Perot/charge coupled device (CCD) imaging of comets (OI, CI, and H2O(+) velocity maps and spatial distriubtions), and Io's charge exchanged neutral jet was studied.