The spectrum of NML Cygnus from 7.5 to 14 microns.
Spectrum of IR object NML Cygnus, discussing model based on circumstellar IR emission
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Spectrum of IR object NML Cygnus, discussing model based on circumstellar IR emission
Reddened M supergiant 119 Tauri IR spectra and IR absorption by CO and SiO molecules in stellar atmosphere and silicate mineral in interstellar grains
Low resolution spectra of IR stars NML Tau, CIT 3, 6 and 13 considered inadequate for molecular band identification
Compact nebulae IC 4997, VV 8 and FG Sge observed at 3.5 and 11.0 microns, noting IR wavelength energy
BL Lac extragalactic source of radio, IR and visual radiation, estimating upper limit to distance based on spectrum model
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Discussion of the limits on surface temperature (under 190 K) and reflectivity (under 0.5) corresponding to an upper limit set on the 4.9-micron flux from Titan. Special attention is given to the possibility of the presence of an opaque cloud layer or some gaseous absorber on Titan and to the subsequent implications.
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Infrared photometry of Titan, Saturn, and Saturn's Rings at 3.5, 4.9, 17.8, and 18.4 microns is reported. Comparison of the albedo of Titan in the 4.9 micron 'window' with the albedo of the rings and with laboratory spectra suggests that frost, possibly water ice, could be a major constituent. If thick clouds are present they must be very dark at 4.9 microns. The 17.8 and 18.4 micron data are not consistent with a clear, dense molecular hydrogen atmosphere.
The composition of the interstellar silicate dust is investigated. Condensation or alteration of silicate grains at temperatures of a few hundred degrees, in the presence of H2O, would result in hydrous or phyllosilicates, the silicate type most abundant in the type I carbonaceous chondrites. Infrared spectra of small particles (about 0.1 microns) of the high temperature condensates, olivine and pyroxene, at 300 K and 4 K do not give a good match to the interstellar absorption band near 9.8 microns. Laboratory spectra of several phyllosilicates give better agreement as does the spectrum of a carbonaceous chondrite. We propose that the silicates in the interstellar grains are predominantly phyllosilicates and suggest additional spectral tests for this hypothesis.
Infrared spectra (7 to 40 microns) of the Cold Bokkeveld, Murray, and Orgueil carbonaceous chondrites are compared with phyllosilicate-mineral and interstellar-grain spectra. Similarities in the position and shape of the silicate feature near 9.8 microns suggest that similar silicate minerals are present in primitive meteorites and the interstellar dust.
The paper reports spectra of Jupiter in the spectral region from 755 to 850 kaysers, which covers the nu-9 fundamental of ethane and contains lines from the R branch of the nu-5 fundamental of acetylene. The monochromatic absorption coefficient of the central Q branch of the nu-9 fundamental of ethane, which was determined in the laboratory, is applied in a radiative-transfer calculation to evaluate the ethane mixing ratio in the Jovian atmosphere; the present data are also used to place an upper limit on the acetylene mixing ratio. For the radiative-transfer calculation, emission intensity is computed for the region above the 0.02-atm level assuming both an isothermal inversion layer and a previously reported temperature profile. The resulting maximum mixing ratios consistent with the observations are 0.00003 for ethane and 7.5 by 10 to the -8th power for acetylene.
Ground-based spectra of Jupiter and Saturn in the region from 17 to 25 microns are compared with intensities computed from current thermal-structure models. Good agreement with the continuum of Jupiter is obtained for models which incorporate a temperature inversion, but published models give disagreement with the continuum of Saturn. Upper-limit abundances for sulfur and phosphorus in the Jovian atmosphere, as thermodynamically stable species S8 and P4, are found to be 0.04 and 2.1 times the solar abundance, respectively.
Signal-to-noise ratios and the amount of multiplexing gain achieved with a Michelson spectrometer during detector and background noise are studied. Noise caused by the warm background is found in 10 and 20-micron atmospheric windows in high resolution Fourier spectroscopy. An equation is derived for the signal-to-noise ratio based on the number of channels, total time to obtain the complete spectrum, the signal power in one spectral element, and the detector noise equivalent power in the presence of negligible background. Similar expressions are derived for backgrounds yielding a noise equivalent power to a spectral element, and backgrounds having flat spectra in the frequency range under investigation.
Spectra of the central 5 in region of Jupiter in the 744 to 980 kayser spectral range are presented at 0.05 and 0.28 kayser resolution. The gases (N-14)H3, (N-15)H3, and PH3 are observed in absorption, and C2H2 and C2H6 observed in emission. A synthetic spectrum which included the opacity from the H2, (N-14)H3, (N-15)H3, and PH3 is compared with observations. It is concluded that: (1) the (N-14)H3 line profiles are best fitted with a NH3 density in the troposphere which is 0.5 times the saturated vapor pressure density and an opaque cloud at the 0.56 bar pressure level, (2) the best fit (N-15)H3/(N-14)H3 ratio is 0.006, (3) the PH3/H2 abundance ratios of NH3 and PH3 must be highly subsaturated above the tropopause or the temperature inversion is cooler than model predictions.
Ten-micrometer spectra of the North Tropical Zone, North Equatorial Belt, and Great Red Spot at a spectral resolution of 1.1/cm are compared to synthetic spectra. These ground-based spectra were obtained simultaneously with the Voyager 1 encounter with Jupiter in March, 1979. The NH3 vertical distribution is found to decrease with altitude significantly faster than the saturated vapor pressure curve and is different for the three observed regions. Spatial variability in the NH3 mixing ratio could be caused by changes in the amount of NH3 condensation or in the degree of the NH3 photolysis. The C2H6 emission at 12 microns has approximately the same strength at the North Tropical Zone and North Equatorial Belt, but it is 30% weaker at the Great Red Spot. A cooler temperature inversion or a smaller abundance of C2H6 could explain the lower C2H6 emission over the Great Red Spot.
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An absorption band probably due to solid ammonia on interstellar grains has been detected in the infrared spectrum at 2.97 microns of the Becklin-Neugebauer object and probably in NGC 2264-IR. An ammonia-water amorphous ice mixture can explain the structure of the new band and of the 3.07 microns interstellar absorption. Laboratory data suggest that a long wavelength wind extending to 3.5 microns in interstellar dust spectra may be absorption by NH3-H2O complexes in the ices. In the molecular cloud obscuring the BN object, about 20 times as much NH3 is frozen in grains as exists in the gas phase, suggesting the gas-grain interactions may be important in the ammonia chemistry of molecular clouds. Arguments are given that interstellar features at 6.0 and 6.8 microns are also ammonia-related absorptions.