P54A-09
Pluto’s Far Ultraviolet Spectrum and Airglow Emissions
Friday, 18 December 2015: 17:48
2007 (Moscone West)
Andrew Steffl1, Eric Schindhelm2, Joshua Kammer1, Randy Gladstone3, Thomas K Greathouse4, Joel W Parker2, Darrell F Strobel5, Michael E Summers6, Maarten H Versteeg3, Kimberly Ennico Smith7, David P Hinson8, Ivan Linscott9, Catherine Olkin2, Alex Harrison Parker2, Kurt D Retherford4, Kelsi N Singer2, Constantine Tsang2, G Leonard Tyler9, Harold A Weaver Jr10, William W Woods9, Leslie Ann Young2 and Alan Stern11, (1)Southwest Research Institute Boulder, Dept Space Studies, Boulder, CO, United States, (2)Southwest Research Institute Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States, (3)Southwest Research Inst, San Antonio, TX, United States, (4)Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, United States, (5)Johns Hopkins Univ, Baltimore, MD, United States, (6)Geo Mason-Physics & Astronomy, Fairfax, VA, United States, (7)NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, United States, (8)SETI Institute Mountain View, Mountain View, CA, United States, (9)Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States, (10)Applied Physics Laboratory Johns Hopkins, Laurel, MD, United States, (11)Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO, United States
Abstract:
The Alice far ultraviolet spectrograph on the New Horizons spacecraft is the second in a family of six instruments in flight on, or under development for, NASA and ESA missions. Here, we present initial results from the Alice observations of Pluto during the historic flyby. Pluto’s far ultraviolet spectrum is dominated by sunlight reflected from the surface with absorption by atmospehric constituents. We tentatively identify C2H2 and C2H4 in Pluto’s atmosphere. We also present evidence for weak airglow emissions.
