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K. A. Rages (SPRI/Ames), H. B. Hammel (SSI), G. W. Lockwood (Lowell Obs.), M. Marley (NMSU)
Hubble Space Telescope images of Uranus obtained in June 2000 show several discrete clouds near the sunrise line at ~42\deg N latitude, including one with a contrast of ~2.5 at 800-1000 nm wavelength. The derived zonal wind speed of 161± 6 m/s westward at this latitude is very close to that at the equivalent southern latitude at the time of the Voyager encounter. A discrete feature detected at 39\deg S latitude has a speed of 132± 8 m/s westward, which places it right on the Voyager zonal wind profile. Latitudinal bands are visible longward of 600 nm, but not in 467-nm and 547-nm images obtained in August 2000. Center-to-limb profiles at all latitudes south of 20\deg N will be compared to vertical structure models derived from HST images obtained in 1997 to characterize long-term changes in Uranus' latitude bands.
This work was funded through Grants GO-08680 and SNAP-08634, submitted to the Space Science Telescope Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy.