Results for Titan's atmosphere from its occultation of 28 Sagittarii

W. B. Hubbard*, D. M. Hunten, H. J. Reitsema, N. Brosch, Y. Nevo, E. Carreira, F. Rossi, L. H. Wasserman

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

ON 3 July 1989 the bright K giant star 28 Sgr was occulted by Saturn's largest moon, Titan. This event, which was predicted by Wasserman1, offered a unique opportunity to probe Titan's extensive nitrogen-rich atmosphere in an altitude range not investigated by the Voyager 1 spacecraft2,3. Our group observed the occultation from three stations in the Mediterranean area, and here we examine the data set. We derive average mesospheric temperatures of ∼180 K, with evidence for lateral and vertical atmospheric inhomogeneities on scales ranging from ∼10-1,000 km. Our results are consistent with published models4of Titan's mesosphere.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)353-355
Number of pages3
JournalNature
Volume343
Issue number6256
DOIs
StatePublished - 1990

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