Vertical Cloud Structure Of The 2009 Jupiter Impact Based On HST/WFC3 Observations
Abstract
The impact of a body of unknown origin with Jupiter in July 2009 (Sánchez-Lavega et al., Astrophys. J. Lett, Vol. 715, L155. 2010) produced an intense perturbation of the planet's atmosphere at the visible levels. The perturbation was caused by dense aerosol material; this strongly absorbing material expanded steadily as it was advected by the local winds. This phenomenon was observed at high spatial resolution by the Hubble Space Telescope in July, August, September and November 2009 with recently installed Wide Field Camera 3. In this work, we present radiative transfer modeling of the observed reflectivity in the near UV (200nm) to near IR (950nm) range. The geometrical and spectral variations of reflectivity elucidate the main particle properties (optical thickness, size, imaginary refractive index) and their temporal evolution. The aerosol particles that formed during the impact have a mean radius of about 1 micron and are located high in the atmosphere (above 10 mbar), in good agreement ith ground-based observations in deep methane absorption bands in the near infrared. The density of this particle layer decreases with time until it approaches that of the pre-impact atmosphere. These results are also discussed in terms of what we know from other impacts in Jupiter (1994's SL9 event and 2010's bolide). Acknowledgements: SPH, ASL and RH are supported by the Spanish MICIIN AYA2009-10701 with FEDER and Grupos Gobierno Vasco IT-464-07.
- Publication:
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AAS/Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting Abstracts #42
- Pub Date:
- October 2010
- Bibcode:
- 2010DPS....42.1107P