Measurement of stratospheric aerosol on Saturn using an eclipse of Titan |
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| Authors: | Dale W Smith Richard W Shorthill Paul E Johnson E Budding AS Asaad |
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| Institution: | Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98105, USA;Geospace Sciences Laboratory, University of Utah Research Institute, 420 Chipeta Way, Suite 160, Salt Lake City, Utah 84108, USA;Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91103, USA;Department of Astronomy, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, England;Helwan Observatory, Helwan, Egypt |
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| Abstract: | An eclipse of Titan by Saturn was observed on December 20, 1979, to measure the aerosol content in the atmosphere of Saturn. The measurements were made with the 74-in. telescope of the Helwan Observatory, Egypt, in the bandpass 6300–7300 Å and extend to ～5 magnitudes of eclipse darkening. The faint portion of the lightcurve unambiguously requires the presence of aerosol in the lower stratosphere of Saturn. The aerosol extends to at least 20 km above the tropopause and has a one-way stratospheric vertical optical depth of 0.4?0.02+0.04 at 6700 Å. The results apply to the sunset terminator at a cronographic latitude of 23°S. |
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