1. Continuous observations of the inner Solar System: Mapping Venus winds
4/27/2007
Continuous observations of the inner Solar System: Mapping Venus winds
Mark A. Bullock
Eliot F. Young
Southwest Research Institute
Venus nightside at 2.3 mm
April 27, 2007
LCANS SwRI Boulder
LCANS SwRI Boulder

2. The Atmosphere April 27, 2007 LCANS SwRI Boulder
Continuous observations of the inner Solar System: mapping Venus' winds
4/27/2007
The Atmosphere
April 27, 2007
LCANS SwRI Boulder
LCANS SwRI Boulder

3. Winds and General Circulation
Continuous observations of the inner Solar System: mapping Venus' winds
4/27/2007
Winds and General Circulation
April 27, 2007
LCANS SwRI Boulder
LCANS SwRI Boulder

4. Near-IR emission spectrum of Venus
Continuous observations of the inner Solar System: mapping Venus' winds
4/27/2007
Near-IR emission spectrum of Venus
April 27, 2007
LCANS SwRI Boulder
LCANS SwRI Boulder

5. April 27, 2007 LCANS SwRI Boulder
Continuous observations of the inner Solar System: mapping Venus' winds
4/27/2007
May 4, 2004
Venus 2.3 mm
May 5, 2004
IRTF
May 6, 2004
April 27, 2007
May 8, 2004
Eliot Young
May 9, 2004
Mark Bullock
LCANS SwRI Boulder
LCANS SwRI Boulder

6. Moving through an image cube
Continuous observations of the inner Solar System: mapping Venus' winds
4/27/2007
Moving through an image cube
60” spectrometer slit allowed to drift over Venus disk.
Acquired ‘jail bar’ spectra ~50 in 15 minutes.
Reassembled into image cubes, 0.8 to 2.5 mm.
April 27, 2007
LCANS SwRI Boulder
LCANS SwRI Boulder

7. Venus Express VIRTIS images
Continuous observations of the inner Solar System: mapping Venus' winds
4/27/2007
Venus Express VIRTIS images
1.7 mm emission images
Upper left: South pole at lower right, 60o S upper left.
Upper right: Bottom left of image over Alpha Regio
Lower left: Near south pole
Lower right: Near equator in the southern hemisphere
April 27, 2007
LCANS SwRI Boulder
LCANS SwRI Boulder

8. Venus Observation Geometry
Continuous observations of the inner Solar System: mapping Venus' winds
4/27/2007
Venus Observation Geometry
April 27, 2007
LCANS SwRI Boulder
LCANS SwRI Boulder

9. Size of Venus at focal plane
Continuous observations of the inner Solar System: mapping Venus' winds
4/27/2007
Size of Venus at focal plane
5 weeks before inferior conjunction.
40” disk 26% illuminated
110 diffraction-limited elements across disk
Inferior conjunction.
60” disk full nightside
160 diffraction-limited elements across disk
April 27, 2007
LCANS SwRI Boulder
LCANS SwRI Boulder

10. Payload Specifications
Continuous observations of the inner Solar System: mapping Venus' winds
4/27/2007
Payload Specifications
Telescope Aperture: 1 meter
Plate Scale: arcsec
Field of View: 64 arcsec
Diffraction limit: 0.6 arcsec at 2.5 mm 0.2 arcsec at 0.8 mm
Simultaneous imaging and spectra mm
Spectral Resolution l/dl = 4000
Pointing accuracy/stability: ±0.3 arcsec
Minimum Sun angle: 10o
Temperatures
Structure at -40oC
LN2 for IR detector array
April 27, 2007
LCANS SwRI Boulder
LCANS SwRI Boulder

11. Continuous observations of the inner Solar System: mapping Venus' winds
4/27/2007
Conclusions
Continuous near-IR observations of Venus cloud motion necessary to understand the general circulation.
Synoptic view is highly complementary with VEX VIRTIS and VMC.
Continuous cloud tracking with balloon-borne 1 m imager and spectrometer for 10 weeks will allow simultaneous atmospheric motion maps and below-cloud CO, H2O, OCS maps.
These observations are key to understanding Venus’ atmospheric superotation.
April 27, 2007
LCANS SwRI Boulder
LCANS SwRI Boulder