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Titan occultations of Orion’s belt observed with Cassini/UVIS
- Source :
- Icarus. 368:114587
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2021.
-
Abstract
- On 1 February 2016 Titan occulted the three stars in Orion’s belt, as seen from the Casssini spacecraft. The ultraviolet spectrometer on Cassini observed this event with the stars arranged along the instrument’s entrance slit. These three stellar occultations probed different latitudes in Titan’s northern hemisphere but similar longitudes. The occultations were also observed simultaneously in the extreme ultraviolet and far ultraviolet regions of the spectrum. Analysis of these measurements provides information on the atmospheric composition and thermal structure. We determine altitude profiles of N 2 , CH 4 , C 2 H 2 , C 2 H 4 , C 2 H 6 , C 4 H 2 , C 6 H 6 , HCN, and HC 3 N densities along with aerosol extinction. We infer significant variations in latitude for C 2 H 2 , C 2 H 4 , C 4 H 2 , aerosols, and temperature, providing clues to global circulations patterns. The inferred mole fractions of C 2 H 2 , C 2 H 4 , C 4 H 2 , C 6 H 6 , HCN, and HC 3 N are roughly consistent with photochemical model predictions, but C 2 H 2 and C 2 H 4 are over predicted by tens of percent at pressures greater than 10−5 hPa, C 4 H 2 is under predicted by ∼ x2 at most levels, and C 6 H 6 is under predicted by ∼ x2 at pressures less than 10−5 hPa.
- Subjects :
- Physics
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Northern Hemisphere
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
medicine.disease_cause
01 natural sciences
Latitude
Atmosphere
Stars
symbols.namesake
Altitude
Space and Planetary Science
Extreme ultraviolet
0103 physical sciences
medicine
symbols
Titan (rocket family)
010303 astronomy & astrophysics
Ultraviolet
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 00191035
- Volume :
- 368
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Icarus
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........4090ce9fb0d0bf665fbaa7129028828b