HR: 16:45h
AN: P44A-04    [Abstracts]
TI: Spectral Imaging of Saturn by Cassini/VIMS: Early Science Results
AU: * Baines, K H
EM: blueskies4321@yahoo.com
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Drossart, P
AF: Observatoire de Paris, CNRS-UMR 8632, DESPA, Meudon, 92195 France
AU: Formisano, V
AF: Istituto Fisica Spazio Interplanetario, Area Ricerca Tor Vergata, Rome, 00198 Italy
AU: Brown, R H
AF: University of Arizona, Lunar and Planetary Lab, University of Arizona, Tucson, Ar 85721 United States
AU: Bellucci, G
AF: Istituto Fisica Spazio Interplanetario, Area Ricerca Tor Vergata, Rome, 00198 Italy
AU: Bibring, J
AF: Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, Universite de Paris, Paris, 91405 France
AU: Buratti, B
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Capaccioni, F
AF: Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale, Area Ricerca Tor Vergatia, Rome, 00130 Italy
AU: Cerroni, P
AF: Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale, Area Ricerca Tor Vergatia, Rome, 00130 Italy
AU: Clark, R N
AF: U. S. Geological Survey, MS 964, Box 25046, Federal Center, Denver, Co 80225 United States
AU: Coradini, A
AF: Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale, Area Ricerca Tor Vergatia, Rome, 00130 Italy
AU: Cruikshank, D P
AF: NASA/Ames Research Center, MS 245-6, Moffett Field, CA 94035 United States
AU: Jaumann, R
AF: Institute of Space Sensor Technology and Planetary Exploration, Rutherfordstrasse 2, Berlin, CA 12489 Germany
AU: Langevin, Y
AF: Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, Universite de Paris, Paris, 91405 France
AU: Matson, D L
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: McCord, T B
AF: Institute for Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822 United States
AU: Mennella, V
AF: Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Via Moiariello, 16, Naples, 81031 Italy
AU: Nelson, R M
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Nicholson, P D
AF: Astronomy Dept, Cornell University, Space Sciences Building, Ithaca, NY 14853 United States
AU: Sicardy, B
AF: Observatoire de Paris, CNRS-UMR 8632, DESPA, Meudon, 92195 France
AU: Sotin, C
AF: Laboratoire de Planetologie et Geodynamique, Universite de Nantes, 2 rue de Houissinierre, BP99208, Nantes, 44322 France
AU: Momary, T W
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AB: We report results obtained from spectral images of Saturn acquired during the first two Saturn encounters by the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) on board the Cassini spacecraft. The broad spectral coverage of the VIMS instrument - from 0.3 to 5.1 microns - enables VIMS to observe a wide variety of atmospheric phenomena and processes. These include: (1) the vertical and spatial distribution and microphysical properties (size, shape, and composition) of stratospheric hazes and tropospheric clouds, (2) the distributions of condensable vapors (e.g., water and ammonia) and disequilibrium species (e.g., phosphine), diagnostic of meteorology and global circulation, (3) the distribution of species generated by auroral processes (e.g., H$_3$+), (4) methane fluorescence near 10-microbar level, and (5) lightning. Preliminary results will be presented, including images and spectra of the cloudy equatorial region, the southern temperate latitudes, and the south polar aurorae.
DE: 0300 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE
DE: 0310 Airglow and aurora
DE: 0320 Cloud physics and chemistry
DE: 0343 Planetary atmospheres (5405, 5407, 5409, 5704, 5705, 5707)
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting