[Previous] | [Session 12] | [Next]
S.G. Gibbard (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), I. de Pater (UC Berkeley), B.A. Macintosh, A. Grossman (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), M. Adamkovics (UC Berkeley)
We obtained spectra and images of Titan using the NIRC2 camera and spectrograph at the 10-meter W.M. Keck II Telescope on March 7-8, 2003. The spectra were obtained at K band (1.95-2.92 microns), a region that probes Titan's surface (< 2.10 microns), troposphere (2.11-2.17 microns), and stratosphere (2.17-2.24 microns). Both north/south and east/west slices through Titan at a slit size of 0.04 arcseconds were obtained. The results clearly show Titan's surface heterogeneity as well as considerable differences across the disk in the troposphere. The stratosphere appears quite uniform with latitude except for a distinct enhancement in brightness in the northern hemisphere compared to the rest of the disk; this appears to be due to the presence of northern high-level haze. Although cloud features have recently been detected in the southern hemisphere of Titan by several observers, our images in the broadband K filter as well as a narrowband filter at 2.108 microns that selectively probes Titan's troposphere showed no sign of clouds on March 7-8 2003. Data presented herein were obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W.M. Keck Foundation. This research was supported in part by the STC Program of the National Science Foundation under Agreement No. AST-9876783. This research was supported in part under the auspices of the US Department of Energy at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Univ. of Calif. under contract No. W-7405-Eng-48.
[Previous] | [Session 12] | [Next]
Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 35 #4
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.