[4] Multispectral imaging of the EZ and NTB coloration events.


Jupiter in 2012:  Report no.4  ( 2012 Sep.20)
Multispectral imaging of the EZ and NTB coloration events


John Rogers

This is a preliminary account of multispectral images in 2012, especially in the methane absorption waveband at 889 nm. These images can give important information on the different cloud layers on Jupiter.  Methane-band images from 2012 June have been posted with our Report no.1.  Herewith is a montage of images from 2012 July (Fig.3), plus some v-hi-res ones from the Pic du Midi in early August (Fig.4).  This account also puts them into the context of methane images over the past 5 years (Fig.2) (and we are posting a similar account for 2007 as the latest item in the 'Reports, 2007' pages on this web site). 


The special interest this year is the widespread coloration event, and especially the strong reddish colour on the EB and the revived NTB(S).  The paradigm (dating back to similar coloration events in the earliest years of methane imaging in 1968-72) is that reddish colour is due to a high-altitude haze, which is thus bright in methane images. In 2007 and 2012, we have the chance to investigate how far this paradigm is consistent with modern hi-res imaging. We find that it is not very consistent after all.

A link to the full report is available below:

LINK TO THE FULL REPORT INC FIGURES


_________________________________

John H. Rogers, Ph.D. Jupiter Section Director,
British Astronomical Association

jhr11@cam.ac.uk
http://www.britastro.org/jupiter/