Keck Observations of the Uranian Atmosphere and Rings

We present near-infrared observations of Uranus taken with the NIRC2 imager and the OSIRIS integral field spectrograph, both coupled to the adaptive optics system on the W. M. Keck Observatory on UT 2010 July 27, 28 and August 21, 22. Images of Uranus in various bandpasses permit a comparison of the current cloud activity with that of previous years. From spectra of the uranian atmosphere at latitudes ranging from the north polar region to mid southern latitudes, as well as from our images, we investigate the distribution of clouds and hazes in Uranus' atmosphere. Our future work will focus on determining more rigorous constraints for cloud altitudes and on developing a coherent picture of the vertical structure of Uranus' atmosphere for the different latitude bands. We also show preliminary spectra of the rings of Uranus in the 1.2-2.4 micron range.

These data were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among Caltech, UC, and NASA, and which was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation. We recognize the significant cultural role of Mauna Kea within the indigenous Hawaiian community, and we appreciate the opportunity to conduct observations from this revered site.