Titan's 5 micrometers spectral window: carbon monoxide and the albedo of the surface |
| |
Authors: | Noll K S Geballe T R Knacke R F Pendleton Y J |
| |
Institution: | Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA. noll@stsci.edu |
| |
Abstract: | We have measured the spectrum of Titan near 5 micrometers and have found it to be dominated by absorption from the carbon monoxide 1-0 vibration-rotation band. The position of the band edge allows us to constrain the abundance of CO in the atmosphere and/or the location of the reflecting layer in the atmosphere. In the most likely case, 5 micrometers radiation is reflected from the surface and the mole fraction of CO in the atmosphere is qCO=10(+10/-5) ppm, significantly lower than previous estimates for tropospheric CO. The albedo of the reflecting layer is approximately 0.07(+0.02/-0.01) in the 5 micrometers continuum outside the CO band. The 5 micrometers albedo is consistent with a surface of mixed ice and silicates similar to the icy Galilean satellites. Organic solids formed in simulated Titan conditions can also produce similar albedos at 5 micrometers. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 PubMed 等数据库收录! |
|