Related papers: The near-surface methane humidity on Titan
Hot methane is found in many "cool" sub-stellar astronomical sources including brown dwarfs and exoplanets, as well as in combustion environments on Earth. We report on the first high-resolution laboratory absorption spectra of hot methane…
The photochemical haze produced in the upper atmosphere of Titan plays a key role in various atmospheric and surface processes on Titan. The surface energy, one important physical properties of the haze, is crucial for understanding the…
Saturn's moon Titan exhibits remarkable parallels to the Earth in many geophysical and geological processes not found elsewhere in the solar system at the present day. These include a nitrogen atmosphere with a condensible gas - methane -…
It remains to be ascertained whether sub-Neptune exoplanets primarily possess hydrogen-rich atmospheres or whether a population of H$_2$O-rich "water worlds" lurks in their midst. Addressing this question requires improved modeling of…
We present the first observations of propane (C$_3$H$_8$) on Titan that unambiguously resolve propane features from other numerous stratospheric emissions. This is accomplished using a $R=\lambda/\delta\lambda\approx10^5$ spectrometer…
In Earth's current climate, moist convective updraft speeds increase with surface warming. This trend suggests that very vigorous convection might be the norm in extremely hot and humid atmospheres, such as those undergoing a runaway…
Earth's modern climate is characterized by wet, rainy deep tropics, however paleoclimate and planetary science have revealed a wide range of hydrological cycle regimes connected to different external parameters. Here we investigate how…
The longevity of Cassini's exploration of Saturn's atmosphere (a third of a Saturnian year) means that we have been able to track the seasonal evolution of atmospheric temperatures, chemistry and cloud opacity over almost every season, from…
Imaging and spectroscopy of Neptune's thermal infrared emission is used to assess seasonal changes in Neptune's zonal mean temperatures between Voyager-2 observations (1989, heliocentric longitude Ls=236) and southern summer solstice (2005,…
Titan's middle atmosphere is currently experiencing a rapid change of season after northern spring arrived in 2009. A large cloud was observed for the first time above Titan's southern pole in May 2012, at an altitude of 300 km. This…
Recent analysis of Gemini-North/NIFS H-band (1.45 - 1.8 $\mu$m) observations of Uranus, recorded in 2010, with recently updated line data has revealed the spectral signature of hydrogen sulphide (H$_2$S) in Uranus's atmosphere (Irwin et…
With no analogues in the Solar System, the discovery of thousands of exoplanets with masses and radii intermediate between Earth and Neptune was one of the big surprises of exoplanet science. These super-Earths and sub-Neptunes likely…
In their Letter, Tsiaras et al. reported the detection of water vapour in the atmosphere of K2-18 b, an exoplanet of 7 to 10 Earth masses located in the habitable zone of an M-dwarf star. The detection is based on an absorption feature seen…
We present 2.03-2.30 micron near-infrared spectroscopy of Neptune taken 1999 June 2 (UT) with the W.M. Keck Observatory's near-infrared spectrometer (NIRSPEC) during the commissioning of the instrument. The spectrum is dominated by a bright…
Precise atmospheric observations have been made for a growing sample of warm Neptunes. Here we investigate the correlations between these observations and a large number of system parameters to show that, at 95% confidence, the amplitude of…
Water-ice-poor, 5-$\mu$m-bright material on Saturn's moon Titan has previously been geomorphologically identified as evaporitic. Here we present a global distribution of the occurrences of the 5-$\mu$m-bright spectral unit, identified with…
Acetylene (C$_2$H$_2$) and ethane (C$_2$H$_6$) are both produced in the stratosphere of Jupiter via photolysis of methane (CH$_4$). Despite this common source, the latitudinal distribution of the two species is radically different, with…
The Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) observed thermal emission in the far- and mid-infrared (from 10 cm$^{-1}$ to 1500 cm$^{-1}$), enabling spatiotemporal studies of ethane on Titan across the span of the Cassini mission from…
Despite the low solar irradiation it receives, Neptune shows a very active atmosphere with some of the most intense dynamics observed in Solar System atmospheres. Characterizing the atmospheric temperature profiles of the planet is a key to…
Jupiter's tropospheric composition and cloud structure are studied using Cassini VIMS 4.5-5.1 {\mu}m thermal emission spectra from the 2000-2001 flyby. We make use of both nadir and limb darkening observations on the planet's nightside, and…