Long-slit spectra of Mars in the thermal infrared

We have obtained long-slit spectra of Mars in the 7-14 microns regime. Our two integrations, taken 1993 March 2, are spaced about 2 hours apart and are centered at longitudes of roughly 210deg and 240deg . The data cover the Elysium Planitia and volcanic regions, the classical dark albedo regions of Cerburus and central and eastern Hesperia, and the classical bright albedo region Utopia Planitia. We have deconvolved the point spread function from the images using a maximum entropy reconstruction algorithm; the resulting spatial resolution of the images is better than 1''. Mars occupies approximately 9'' of the slit, and we have detected variations in the spectral emission from different areas of the planet. We are in the process of interpreting these spectral variations in terms of the temperature and composition of the surface and the transmission of the Martian atmospheric dust and gases.