1. Io - The near-infrared monitoring program, 1979-1981
- Author
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Lindwall, D, Cheigh, F, Tittemore, W. C, and Sinton, W. M
- Subjects
Lunar And Planetary Exploration - Abstract
The results of a program to monitor the brightness of Io in the near infrared are reported. While Io's 2.2 micron flux can be explained very well by conventional albedo analysis, at 3.8 and 4.8 microns Io has large intrinsic variations presumably associated with volcanism. At the latter two wavelengths, Io appears brighter and more active on its trailing hemisphere. These wavelengths also have possibly significant terms at the Jupiter corotational periods of 13 and 6.5 hr. These are particularly significant for observations of the trailing hemisphere and have a marked peak when Io is in the active sector. The data also show that the variability occurs in outbursts. Eight of these were observed and four were studied, deriving color temperatures near 700 K which decayed to about 300 K after several hours. It is argued that the apparent peak and the significance of the corotational terms may be fortuitous.
- Published
- 1983