Title:
Amateur Observations of Jupiter’s Clouds, Hazes, and Composition
Summary:
Jupiter displays multiple colorful cloud types, with regional variations that change over time. For more than a century amateurs have observed and tracked these features, first visually, and now with sophisticated color cameras. These observations have provided the basis for understanding the circulation and wind patterns of the atmosphere, along with periodic regional and global upheavals. Amateurs now peer into the near-infrared (NIR), including the 889 nm methane band, and near ultraviolet (NUV) revealing details of upper-level hazes. Use of other methane filters can probe different cloud levels below the hazes. My recent work has added another twist: the ability to detect not just cloud height, but ammonia concentration. The question arises: How can amateurs contribute objective measurements of Jupiter’s clouds and their changes? By applying calibration to existing and new filter bands that are readily available from optical companies, amateurs can make quantitative measures of color, cloud height, and ammonia distribution. This talk provides background on Jupiter’s cloud layers, then describes these low-cost, accessible observing techniques, some of the results they’ve generated, and how they relate to and support professional planetary research.
Bio
Steven Hill is an amateur astronomer living in Denver where he enjoys the 300 sunny days and clear nights per year we get here in Colorado. Light pollution in the city of Denver led him to focus on bright objects like the planets. He recently retired from his day job at NOAA working on space weather observations. Steve has a Ph.D. in astrophysics, which helps him in all his space-related pursuits. With this background he likes to push the boundaries of what can be accomplished with his backyard telescope equipment. These factors all came together, leading him to investigate ammonia on Jupiter.
Location
The meeting will be at the First Evangelical Lutheran Church, 803 Third Avenue, Longmont, CO 80501.
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