First Spitzer observations of Neptune: Detection of new hydrocarbons

Creators: Meadows, Victoria S.; Orton, Glenn; Line, Michael; Liang, Mao-Chang; Yung, Yuk L.; van Cleve, Jeffrey

Abstract

We present the first spectra of Neptune taken with the Spitzer Space Telescope, highlighting the high-sensitivity, moderate-resolution 10–20 μm (500–1000 cm^(−1)) spectra. We report the discovery of methylacetylene (CH_3C_2H) and diacetylene (C_4H_2) with derived 0.1-mbar volume mixing ratios of (1.2±0.1)×10^(−10) and (3 ±1)×10^(−12) respectively.

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© 2008 Elsevier Inc. Received 14 November 2007; revised 19 May 2008; available online 20 June 2008; October 2008 issue. This work is based on observations made with the Spitzer Space Telescope, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under a contract with NASA. M.C.L. and Y.L.Y. were supported in part by NASA Grant NAG5-13296 to the California Institute of Technology. We wish to thank Julianne Moses for her model vertical constituent profiles in advance of publication—and for several extremely helpful discussions. The IRS was a collaborative venture between Cornell University and Ball Aerospace Corporation funded by NASA through the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Ames Research Center.

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First Spitzer observations of Neptune: Detection of new hydrocarbons

Abstract

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