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At least 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2016

The Spectrum of Jupiters Great Red Spot: the Case for Ammonium Hydrosulfide (NH4SH)

Here we present new ultraviolet-visible spectra of irradiated ammonium hydrosulfide (NH4SH), a reported Jovian atmospheric cloud component, for a range of temperatures and radiation doses and make assignments to the spectral features. We show that the combination of radiolysis and thermal annealing of NH4SH causes the originally featureless ultraviolet-visible reflectance spectrum to evolve into one that absorbs in the ultraviolet-visible region. Furthermore, we find that our laboratory spectra resemble HST (Hubble Space Telescope) spectra below 500 nanometers, suggesting that the more stable reaction products of NH4SH radiolysis are likely an important component of the Great Red Spot.

Jupiter Atmosphere↗
NASA NTRS1973

Interpretation of the Jupiter red spot. I.

The LPL research programs on Jupiter include continuing photographic coverage of the planet in color and in several wavelength bands; IR image scans especially around 5 microns; medium and high-resolution spectral studies in the photographic and the lead-sulfide regions, with laboratory comparisons; photometric and polarimetric studies; far-IR measurements at high altitudes; chemical studies designed to match formation of Jovian cloud particles; and participation in the NASA Pioneer missions. Some preliminary interpretative remarks are given which are in part suggested by the remarkable IR spectra and IR images of the earth and Mars obtained at NASA-Goddard. This leads to a discussion of the Red Spot and the White Ovals.

Kuiper, G. P.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Long-term changes in reflectivity and larger scale motions in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn

A multi-color, broad-band photographic program for monitoring atmospheric variability of Jupiter and Saturn with the 61-cm, f/75 telescope was continued. The archivial product consists of approximately 20 sequential images on 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 glass plates with a plate scale of 4.53 arc sec/mm. An eleven-step sensitometric wedge, recorded times of acquisition, and fiducial marks which determine the orientation of the plate, are recorded on each individual plate. This allows accurate positional measurements, as well as detailed relative surface brightness determinations. Detailed measurements of the Red Spot are being utilized in a study of zonal velocity variation and the ability to predict the longitude of the Red Spot during the Galileo mission. An ongoing 5-color series of Saturn has been maintained to map the seasonal changes in the belt-zone reflectivity. Digitization of a series of blue images containing the Red Spot and a series of red and blue images excluding the Red Spot are being processed and reduced to normalized surface brightness maps. This data is being utilized to map time-dependent brightness variations of selected features, belts, and ones.

Beebe, R. F.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Silicon compounds in the Jupiter atmosphere

The formation of colored silicon compounds under nonequilibrium conditions is discussed with reference to the composition of the Jupiter atmosphere. It is shown that many of these reactions produce strongly colored intermediates that are relatively stable and similar in appearance to those observed on Jupiter. It is suggested that the silicon compounds could substantially contribute to the colors observed on Jupiter. The colored intermediates may be the result of relatively rapid amorphous silicon monoxide formation in vertical atmospheric currents in the region near the red spot and in the red spot itself.

Howland, G.↗
NASA NTRS1980

High spatial and spectral resolution 10-micron observations of Jupiter

Ten-micrometer spectra of the North Tropical Zone, North Equatorial Belt, and Great Red Spot at a spectral resolution of 1.1/cm are compared to synthetic spectra. These ground-based spectra were obtained simultaneously with the Voyager 1 encounter with Jupiter in March, 1979. The NH3 vertical distribution is found to decrease with altitude significantly faster than the saturated vapor pressure curve and is different for the three observed regions. Spatial variability in the NH3 mixing ratio could be caused by changes in the amount of NH3 condensation or in the degree of the NH3 photolysis. The C2H6 emission at 12 microns has approximately the same strength at the North Tropical Zone and North Equatorial Belt, but it is 30% weaker at the Great Red Spot. A cooler temperature inversion or a smaller abundance of C2H6 could explain the lower C2H6 emission over the Great Red Spot.

Tokunaga, A. T.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Galilean satellite eclipse studies. III - Jovian methane abundance

The methane abundance in the lower Jovian stratosphere is measured using the Galilean satellite eclipse technique. The average mixing ratio at the locations measured is larger than the expected value for a solar abundance of carbon with the expected value for a solar abundance of carbon with the possibility of some zenographic variation. Observationally compatible values are found for the South Temperate Zone, the edge of the Great Red Spot and the South Tropical Zone, and the Great Red Spot.

Smith, D. W.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Voyager Encounter Highlights

The following are presented: computer animation of trajectories for both Voyagers 1 and 2; view of Jupiter during one orbit of Ganymede; computer animation of Voyager 2's encounter with Jupiter and its satellites; time lapse of the planet's rotation and its satellites; stroboscopic sequence of selected frames; cloud motion; Jupiter's Great Red Spot (4/25 - 5/24, 1979) through a violet filter; and the Great Red Spot through a blue filter by Voyager 1. The dynamics of Jupiter's clouds are shown - the whole planet is shown first, then two closer looks are repeated several times. Also included are pans of stills of Jupiter's satellites and a computer simulation tour of Saturn system from POV just behind Voyager, made of 116 images of Saturn through a green filter and of 516 images taken by Voyager 1 (9/12 - 9/14, 1980). Frames are enhanced to show the motion of features in Saturn's rings. Pans of stills of Saturn's satellites are shown. There is computer animation of the planet's system, rings, and Sigma Sagittari. Images on January 14, 1986 are through an orange filter. Uranus's satellites are shown as is computer animation of an August 1989 encounter.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1976

Measurements of Jupiter's long-lived features and currents

Recent longitudinal measurements of Jupiter's Red Spot are presented to illustrate the constancy of the 90-day oscillation. Observational parameters of the Red Spot, the three south temperate ovals, and a summary of the zenographic latitudes of the belts are tabulated for the time interval from 1972 to 1975. Drift rates and the mean latitudes of the atmospheric currents for the 1974-75 apparition are presented.

Reese, E. J.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Measures of Jupiter photographs - 1974/75 apparition

The 1974/75 Jupiter apparition is described. Photographic images have been measured and zonal velocities are given for all spots observed on four or more dates. Global and localized zonal flow patterns are graphically presented. Methane absorption band imagery at 890 nm indicates that white ovals and red spots are high in altitude, and blue features are cloud-free areas. The motions of blue features are complex and unlike the motions of other features. Interactions or associations between spots at five adjacent atmospheric currents have been observed. Zonal motion within an equatorial plume has been observed. Evidence is presented for a probable source of red spots in the North Tropical Zone.

Minton, R. B.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Voyager 1 imaging and IRIS observations of Jovian methane absorption and thermal emission: Implications for cloud structure

Images from three filters of the Voyager 1 wide angle camera are used to measure the continuum reflectivity and spectral gradient near 6000 A and the 6190 A band methane/continuum ratio for a variety of cloud features in Jupiter's atmosphere. The dark barge features in the North Equatorial Belt have anomalously strong positive continuum spectral gradients suggesting unique composition. Methane absorption is shown at unprecedented spatial scales for the Great Red Spot and its immediate environment, for a dark barge feature in the North Equatorial Belt, and for two hot spot and plume regions in the North Equatorial Belt. Methane absorption and five micrometer emission are correlated in the vicinity of the Great Red Spot but are anticorrelated in one of the plume hot spot regions. Methane absorption and simultaneous maps of five micrometer brightness temperature is quantitatively compared to realistic cloud structure models which include multiple scattering at five micrometer as well as in the visible. Variability in H2 quadrupole lines are also investigated.

West, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Voyager 1 imaging and IRIS observations of Jovian methane absorption and thermal emission - Implications for cloud structure

Images from three filters of the Voyager 1 wide angle camera are used to measure the continuum reflectivity and spectral gradient near 6000 A and the 6190 A band methane/continuum ratio for a variety of cloud features in Jupiter's atmosphere. The dark barge features in the North Equatorial Belt have anomalously strong positive continuum spectral gradients suggesting unique composition. Methane absorption is shown at unprecedented spatial scales for the Great Red Spot and its immediate environment, for a dark barge feature in the North Equatorial Belt, and for two hot spot and plume regions in the North Equatorial Belt. Methane absorption and five micrometer emission are correlated in the vicinity of the Great Red Spot but are anticorrelated in one of the plume hot spot regions. Methane absorption and simultaneous maps of five micrometer brightness temperature are quantitatively compared to realistic cloud structure models which include multiple scattering at five micrometer as well as in the visible. Variability in H2 quadrupole lines are also investigated.

West, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Possible fluid dynamical interpretation of some reported features in the Jovian atmosphere

A fluid dynamical interpretation is presented of the two major types of disturbance found in the southern hemisphere of Jupiter by the Voyager 1 imaging data. The observed features always occur together, and consist of a compact elliptically shaped formation having an anticyclonic flow which is poleward of a pair of more elongated cyclonic structures, as in the Great Red Spot and the white ovals. It is noted that the anticyclonic features at 41 deg S may be described by the cnoidal wave solutions to the appropriate nonlinear evolution equation, and that flow patterns derived in the vicinity of the Great Red Spot and white ovals are strikingly similar to those obtained for the flow around a solitary wave of the type than can exist in a zonal flow such as that found in the Jupiter atmosphere. Results of computations in terms of solitary wave theory of flow fields in the atmospheric structure and zonal velocity profiles determined from Voyager infrared spectroscopy and radiometry data are then presented which show that the pattern must be a singular solitary wave mode, the east-west structure of which is best described by the Korteweg-de-Vries equation

Maxworthy, T.↗