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R. West (JPL/CalTech), K. Larsen (LASP, U. Colorado), Y. Yung (Caltech), E. Wilson (JPL/CalTech), D. Tice (Clairbourn School), I. Stewart, L. Esposito (LASP, U. Colorado), C. Porco (Space Sci. Inst., Boulder, CO.)
New observations of Titans haze at altitudes above about 140 Km from the Cassini Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS) and Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) provide constraints on Titans stratospheric haze. Both instruments imaged Titan at low, intermediate and high phase angles. Scattered sunlight and acetylene absorption are evident in the UVIS spectral image cubes between about 160 and 190 nm. The phase-angle dependence of these image cubes provides constraints on the smallest particles at the highest altitudes where particles reside. UVIS stellar occultation profiles give information on the vertical profiles of the haze at two latitudes. The ISS resolved many thin aerosol layers which are seen to evolve over a three-hour period. These are seen best in the ISS UV3 filter (effective wavelength 343 nm). ISS also provided polarization information and information in methane and continuum filters out to 938 nm. These new observations of the wavelength dependence, phase dependence, polarization and high-resolution limb views are used as constraints on haze models by comparison with scattering models which take into account the spherical-shell nature of Titans extended haze.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #3
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.