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An imaging photopolarimeter aboard Pioneer 11, including a 2.5-centimeter telescope, was used for 2 weeks continuously in August and September 1979 for imaging, photometry, and polarimetry observations of Saturn, its rings, and Titan. A new ring of optical depth2 x 10(-3) was discovered at 2.33 Saturn radii and is provisionally named the F ring; it is separated from the A ring by the provisionally named Pioneer division. A division between the B and C rings, a gap near the center of the Cassini division, and detail in the A, B, and C rings have been seen; the nomenclature of divisions and gaps is redefined. The width of the Encke gap is 876 +/- 35 kilometers. The intensity profile and colors are given for the light transmitted by the rings. A mean particle size less, similar 15 meters is indicated; this estimate is model-dependent. The D ring was not seen in any viewing geometry and its existence is doubtful. A satellite, 1979 S 1, was found at 2.53 +/- 0.01 Saturn radii; the same object was observed approximately 16 hours later by other experiments on Pioneer 11. The equatorial radius of Saturn is 60,000 +/- 500 kilometers, and the ratio of the polar to the equatorial radius is 0.912 +/- 0.006. A sample of polarimetric data is compared with models of the vertical structure of Saturn's atmosphere. The variation of the polarization from the center of the disk to the limb in blue light at 88 degrees phase indicates that the density of cloud particles decreases as a function of altitude with a scale height about one-fourth that of the gas. The pressure level at which an optical depth of 1 is reached in the clouds depends on the single-scattering polarizing properties of the clouds; a value similar to that found for the Jovian clouds yields an optical depth of 1 at about 750 millibars.

The imaging photopolarimeter aboard Pioneer 10 produced hundreds of red and blue images of Jupiter covering a wide range of phase angles and having good linearity and signal-to-noise characteristics. In this preliminary analysis the limb darkening across two of the red images (at phase angles of about 34 and 109 deg) in both a prominent dark belt and a bright zone are compared with multiple-scattering models. Of the simple models tried, the smallest deviations from the observations result for ones consisting of a thin absorbing layer above a semiinfinite atmosphere of particles scattering according to the Henyey-Greenstein phase function. The asymmetry parameter for the best fits to both the belt and the zone data is in the range g = 0 to 0.25, corresponding to particles small in comparison with the wavelength of red light. The phase integral derived from the models lies in the range of about 1.5 to 1.6, implying a substantial internal heat source for Jupiter.

For 2 weeks continuous imaging, photometry, and polarimetry observations were made of Jupiter and the Galilean satellites in red and blue light from Pioneer 11. Measurements of Jupiter's north and south polar regions were possible because the spacecraft trajectory was highly inclined to the planet's equatorial plane. One of the highest resolution images obtained is presented here along with a comparison of a sample of our photometric and polarimetric data with a simple model. The data seem consistent with increased molecular scattering at high latitudes.

The solar flux radiometer aboard the Pioneer Venus large probe operated successfully during its descent through the atmosphere of Venus. Upward, downward, and net fluxes from 0.4 to 1.0 micrometers were obtained at more than 390 levels between 185 millibars (at an altitude of approximately 61 kilometers) and the surface. Fluxes from 0.4 to 1.8 micrometers were also obtained between 185 millibars and about the level at which the pressure was 2 atmospheres. Data from 80 to 185 millibars should be available after additional decoding by the Deep Space Network. Upward and downward intensities in a narrower band from 0.59 to 0.66 micrometers were also obtained throughout the descent in order to constrain cloud properties. The measurements indicate three cloud regions above the 1.3-atmosphere level (at an altitude of approximately 49 kilometers) and a clear atmosphere beneath that level. At the 67 degrees solar zenith of the probe entry site, some 15 watts per square meter are absorbed at the surface by a dark ground, which implies that about 2 percent of the solar energy incident on the planet is absorbed at the ground.

A 2.5-centimeter telescope aboard Pioneer 10 is capable of making two-dimensional spin-scan maps of intensity and polarization in red and blue light at high spatial resolution. During the recent flyby of Jupiter, a large quantity of imaging and polarimetric data was obtained on Jupiter and the Galilean satellites over a wide range of phase angles.

The large format and high detective quantum efficiency of the RCA 512 × 320 CCD, combined with the use of discriminating algorithms to process the images, are allowing us to make our high resolution spectrometer capable of detecting changes as small as 15 meters/second in the Doppler shift of 6th magnitude solar-type stars. If each such star is observed 10 times/year for five years, this accuracy will be sufficient to detect the reflex Doppler shift due to the orbital motion of a planet with the mass of Jupiter and an orbital semimajor axis of 3 astronomical units.

In the present paper, the single-scattering phase function of Saturn's aerosols is determined from the vertical structure of Saturn's atmosphere, derived in a previous analysis, and Pioneer's imaging photometry of bright and dark zones on Saturn in red and blue light. The single-scattering phase function is well represented by a combination of two Henyey-Greenstein functions. Moderately forward scattering functions fit well both in red and blue light, although a definite difference between the two colors is found.