Raman scattering in the Jovian atmosphere
On December 8 and 9, 1976, the 1024 channel Reticon silicon photodiode array detector in the coude spectrograph of a 2.7 m telescope was used to obtain spectra of Jupiter and the moon. Three separate data sets were obtained, including one of the Jovian equatorial region, one of the Jovian north polar cap, and one of Mare Serenetatis on the moon. A correlation analysis was conducted. The autocorrelation function of the Jovian spectrum was calculated and the autocorrelation function of the lunar spectrum was subtracted from it. The analysis made it possible to detect Raman scattering by H2 in the atmosphere of Jupiter. The pure rotational H2 S(0) and S(1) lines were detected. The ratio of the relative number of Raman scattered photons in the S(0) and S(1) features indicate that the H2 in the Jovian atmosphere is in the equilibrium, rather than the normal state. Therefore some sort of nonradiative process is responsible for transitions between the ortho and para states of H2.