Neptune and Titan Observed with Keck Telescope Adaptive Optics

Conference · Fri May 05 00:00:00 EDT 2000

OSTI ID:792749

Max, C E; Macintosh, B A; Gibbard, S; Gavel, D T; Roe, H; De Pater, I; Ghez, A M; Acton, S; Wizinowich, P L; Lai, O

The authors report on observations taken during engineering science validation time using the new adaptive optics system at the 10-m Keck II Telescope. They observe Neptune and Titan at near-infrared wavelengths. These objects are ideal for adaptive optics imaging because they are bright and small, yet have many diffraction-limited resolution elements across their disks. In addition Neptune and Titan have prominent physical features, some of which change markedly with time. They have observed infrared-bright storms on Neptune, and very low-albedo surface regions on Titan, Saturn's largest moon, Spatial resolution on Neptune and Titan was 0.05-0.06 and 0.04-0.05 arc sec, respectively.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Defense Programs (DP) (US)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-Eng-48
• OSTI ID: 792749
• Report Number(s): UCRL-JC-136493; TRN: US200302%%215
• Resource Relation: Conference: SPIE, Munich (DE), 03/27/2000--03/31/2000; Other Information: PBD: 5 May 2000
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
MOON
OPTICS
RESOLUTION
SPATIAL RESOLUTION
STORMS
TELESCOPES
VALIDATION
WAVELENGTHS