The Atmosphere of Titan in Late Northern Summer from JWST and Keck Observations
Abstrak
Saturn's moon Titan undergoes a long annual cycle of 29.45 Earth years. Titan's northern winter and spring were investigated in detail by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft (2004-2017), but the northern summer season remains sparsely studied. Here we present new observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and Keck II telescope made in 2022 and 2023 during Titan's late northern summer. Using JWST's mid-infrared instrument, we spectroscopically detected the methyl radical, the primary product of methane break-up and key to the formation of ethane and heavier molecules. Using the near-infrared spectrograph onboard JWST, we detected several non-local thermodynamic equilibrium CO and CO2 emission bands, which allowed us to measure these species over a wide altitude range. Lastly, using the near-infrared camera onboard JWST and Keck II, we imaged northern hemisphere tropospheric clouds evolving in altitude, which provided new insights and constraints on seasonal convection patterns. These observations pave the way for new observations and modelling of Titan's climate and meteorology as it progresses through the northern fall equinox, when its atmosphere is expected to show notable seasonal changes.
Topik & Kata Kunci
Penulis (45)
Conor A. Nixon
Bruno Bézard
Thomas Cornet
Brandon Park Coy
Imke de Pater
Maël Es-Sayeh
Heidi B. Hammel
Emmanuel Lellouch
Nicholas A. Lombardo
Manuel López-Puertas
Juan M. Lora
Pascal Rannou
Sébastien Rodriguez
Nicholas A. Teanby
Elizabeth P. Turtle
Richard K. Achterberg
Carlos Alvarez
Ashley G. Davies
Katherine de Kleer
Greg Doppmann
Leigh N. Fletcher
Alexander G. Hayes
Bryan J. Holler
Patrick G. J. Irwin
Carolyn Jordan
Oliver R. T. King
Nicholas W. Kutsop
Theresa C. Marlin
Henrik Melin
Stefanie N. Milam
Edward M. Molter
Luke Moore
Yaniss Nyffenegger-Péré
James O'Donoghue
John O'Meara
Scot C. R. Rafkin
Michael T. Roman
Arina Rostopchina
Naomi Rowe-Gurney
Carl Schmidt
Judy Schmidt
Christophe Sotin
Tom S. Stallard
John A. Stansberry
Robert A. West
Akses Cepat
- Tahun Terbit
- 2025
- Bahasa
- en
- Sumber Database
- arXiv
- Akses
- Open Access ✓