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标题：SPITZER SPACE TELESCOPE MID-IR LIGHT CURVES OF NEPTUNE
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作者：John Stauffer ; Mark S. Marley ; John E. Gizis 等
期刊名称：The Astronomical journal
印刷版ISSN：0004-6256
电子版ISSN：1538-3881
出版年度：2016
卷号：152
期号：5
DOI：10.3847/0004-6256/152/5/142
语种：English
出版社：American Institute of Physics
摘要：We have used the Spitzer Space Telescope in 2016 February to obtain high cadence, high signal-to-noise, 17 hr duration light curves of Neptune at 3.6 and 4.5 μm. The light curve duration was chosen to correspond to the rotation period of Neptune. Both light curves are slowly varying with time, with full amplitudes of 1.1 mag at 3.6 μm and 0.6 mag at 4.5 μm. We have also extracted sparsely sampled 18 hr light curves of Neptune at W1 (3.4 μm) and W2 (4.6 μm) from the Wide-feld Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)/NEOWISE archive at six epochs in 2010–2015. These light curves all show similar shapes and amplitudes compared to the Spitzer light curves but with considerable variation from epoch to epoch. These amplitudes are much larger than those observed with Kepler/K2 in the visible (amplitude ~0.02 mag) or at 845 nm with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in 2015 and at 763 nm in 2016 (amplitude ~0.2 mag). We interpret the Spitzer and WISE light curves as arising entirely from reflected solar photons, from higher levels in Neptune's atmosphere than for K2. Methane gas is the dominant opacity source in Neptune's atmosphere, and methane absorption bands are present in the HST 763 and 845 nm, WISE W1, and Spitzer 3.6 μm filters.
关键词：planets and satellites: individual (Neptune) Supporting material: machine-readable tables