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The Unusual Dynamics of Northern Dark Spots on Neptune
Baines, K. H.; Sromovsky, L. A.; Fry, P. M.
Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and ground-based observations of Neptune from 1991 to 2000 show that Neptune's northern Great Dark Spots (NGDS) remained remarkably stable in latitude and longitudinal drift rate, in marked contrast to the 1989 southern Great Dark Spot (GDS), which moved continuously equatorward during 1989 and dissipated unseen during…
A Comparative Study of Jovian Cyclonic Features from a Six-Year (1994-2000) Survey
Colas, F.; Sánchez-Lavega, Agustín.; Lecacheux, J. +1 more
This work presents a six-year study aimed at characterizing the morphology and properties of the atmospheric features present in jovian cyclonic regions. It complements our previous analysis for the same period on the anticyclonic vortices (Morales-Juberias et al. 2002, Icarus 157, 76-90). The main difference between cyclonic and anticyclonic regi…
Aging of Titan's Aerosols
Dimitrov, Vasili; Bar-Nun, Akiva
Titan's haze is composed of aerosols containing long chain polymers of acetylene with some hydrogen cyanide. These polymers have alternating double/single and triple/single bonds, which can open spontaneously or under the action of UV radiation or particle impact. Once opened, they can induce the opening of a double or triple bond in an adjacent c…
No Hexagonal Wave around Saturn's Southern Pole
Sánchez-Lavega, A.; Pérez-Hoyos, S.; French, R. G. +1 more
Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images (1997-2002) do not show a hexagonal wave in the south pole that is a counterpart of the northern one (D. A. Godfrey 1988, Icarus76, 335-356). However, a polar jet similar to that in which the north polar hexagonal wave is embedded has been discovered in the southern hemisphere. The HST images also reveal the exi…
A Prominent Apparition of Neptune's South Polar Feature
Lockwood, G. W.; Rages, Kathy; Hammel, Heidi B.
During the last week of June 2001, a bright apparition of Neptune's South Polar Feature (SPF) at 70°S was observed to develop and decay in less than 30 hours, displaying contrast of ∼2.5 at 619 nm. Assuming that the same SPF was observed on two consecutive rotations of Neptune, the feature moved eastward at 3.2±1.8° hr -1 (130±80 m s
Observations of Saturn's Ribbon Wave 14 Years after Its Discovery
Sanchez-Lavega, Agustín.
A singular feature in planetary atmospheres, the saturnian midnorthern latitude "ribbon" wave, was discovered in images obtained during the Voyager 1 and 2 encounters with the planet in 1980 and 1981. Here we present evidence of its first detection 14 years later (about half a Saturn year later) using archived Hubble Space Telescope images. The pr…