Spectro-photometric observation of Jupiter using passband-tunable imaging system

We carried out spectro-photometric imaging of Jupiter on November 13th and 14th 2000 using the 3.5meter telescope at the Apache Point Observatory. We used AImS, an Acousto-optic Imaging Spectrometer built at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, which is a passband-tunable imager with a spectral range from 0.50-1.05 microns and spectral resolution of λ / Δ λ = 210 ~ 530. Each night, we obtained two complete sets of images spanning 500-903 nm, each set containing 198 different wavelengths. The same nights, we observed two standard stars that were close to Jupiter in the sky and bracketed Jupiter in airmass. Calibrating the frames with those standards, we obtain three-dimensional(two spatial and one spectral) image cubes, and this enables us to analyze the spacial variation of spectrophotometric properties among different features on Jupiter. In this presentation, calibrated center-to-limb profiles of belts and zones at various wavelengths are presented and compared. We apply the Minnaert fit on those curves, and the regional differences in the coefficients are discussed in relation to the possible variations of the atmospheric structure. Preliminary radiative transfer modeling results based on adding-doubling codes will be shown together. This work is supported by NASA's Planetary Astronomy program through the grant number NAG5-7904.