Related papers: Saturn's south polar cloud composition and structu…
We present and analyze three-dimensional data cubes of Neptune from the OSIRIS integral-field spectrograph on the 10-m Keck telescope, from July 2009. These data have a spatial resolution of 0.035"/pixel and spectral resolution of R~3800 in…
Seasonal variation is significant in Titan's atmosphere due to the large change of solar insolation resulting from Titan's 26.7{\deg} axial tilt relative to the plane of Saturn's orbit. Here we present an investigation of hydrocarbon and…
We report a model study on the effects of clouds on emission spectra of super-Venus planets. Our goal is to assess possible ways to identify characteristic spectral features due to clouds. We show that it is possible to distinguish an…
Titan's atmosphere is optically thick and hides the surface and the lower layers from the view at almost all wavelengths. However, because gaseous absorptions are spectrally selective, some narrow spectral intervals are relatively…
We revisit the evidence for a "dust cloud" observed by the Cassini spacecraft at Saturn in 2006. The data of four instruments are simultaneously compared to interpret the signatures of a coherent swarm of dust that would have remained near…
The recent derivation of a lower limit for the $^{14}$N/$^{15}$N ratio in Saturn's ammonia, which is found to be consistent with the Jovian value, prompted us to revise models of Saturn's formation using as constraints the supersolar…
(Abridged) Using the Arecibo Observatory we have obtained neutral hydrogen (HI) absorption and emission spectral pairs in the direction of 26 background radio continuum sources in the vicinity of the Perseus molecular cloud. Strong…
Lindal et al. (1987, J. Geophys. Res. 92, 14987-15001) presented a range of temperature and CH4 profiles for Uranus that were consistent with 1986 Voyager radio occultation measurements. A localized refractivity slope variation near 1.2…
We revisit the evidence for a "dust cloud" observed by the Cassini spacecraft at Saturn in 2006. The simultaneous data of 3 instruments are compared to interpret the signatures of a coherent swarm of dust that could have remained floating…
The Cassini/Composite InfraRed Spectrometer (CIRS) instrument has been observing the middle atmosphere of Titan over almost half a Saturnian year. We used the CIRS dataset processed through the up-to-date calibration pipeline to…
Following the announcement of the detection of phosphine (PH$_3$) in the cloud deck of Venus at millimeter wavelengths, we have searched for other possible signatures of this molecule in the infrared range. Since 2012, we have been…
From STIS observations of Uranus in 2012, we found that the methane volume mixing ratio declined from about 4% at low latitudes to about 2% at 60 deg N and beyond. This is similar to that found in the south polar regions in 2002, in spite…
The Cassini-Huygens space mission revealed that Titan s thick brownish haze is initiated high in the atmosphere at about 1000 km of altitude, before a slow transportation down to the surface. Close to the surface at altitudes below 130 km,…
Saturn's ionosphere is produced when the otherwise neutral atmosphere is exposed to a flow of energetic charged particles or solar radiation. At low latitudes the latter should result in a weak planet-wide glow in infrared (IR),…
$Context.$ On October 31, 2009, the Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) on board the Herschel Space Observatory observed far-infrared spectra of Jupiter between 50 and 220$\,\mu$m as part of the program "Water and Related…
Mesospheric CO2 clouds are one of two types of carbon dioxide clouds known on Mars. We present observations of mesospheric CO2 clouds made by Atmospheric Chemistry Suit (ACS) onboard the ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO). We…
The atmosphere of Venus remains mysterious, with many outstanding chemical connundra. These include: the unexpected presence of ~10 ppm O2 in the cloud layers; an unknown composition of large particles in the lower cloud layers; and hard to…
Temperatures of the outer planet thermospheres exceed those predicted by solar heating alone by several hundred degrees. Enough energy is deposited at auroral regions to heat the entire thermosphere, but models predict that equatorward…
Aims. To investigate the mid-infrared (MIR) characteristics of Saturn's rings. Methods. We collected and analyzed MIR high spatial resolution images of Saturn's rings obtained in January 2008 and April 2005 with COMICS mounted on Subaru…
Broad absorption signatures from alkali metals, such as the sodium (Na I) and potassium (K I) resonance doublets, have long been predicted in the optical atmospheric spectra of cloud-free irradiated gas-giant exoplanets1,2,3. However,…