Investigation of Jovian Polar Haze Using ah Imaging-Polarimetry instrument HOPS

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The HOPS, a two-dimensional imaging-polarimetry instrument, was completed on Oct. 31, 2000, and the first-light polarimetric observations of Jupiter and Venus were carried out at the Hida Observatory of the Univ. of Kyoto on Nov. 3 that year. The HOPS was found to be fully operational, and a number of good quality polarization maps of Jupiter and Venus were then obtained. Efforts are now being made to further improve the data reduction procedure.Theoreticalwise, we have succeeded in getting satisfactory results in the following subjects:1.An attempt to approximate with the Mie scattering theory ; the phase functions of the Jovian cloud paticles derived from thePioneer 10 and ll observations.2.Devising an reliable computational technique to obtain accurate theoretical polarization distributions for low latitude regions of a spherical planet observed at small phase angles, a challenging problem for model analyzes of polarimetry data.3.A reanalysis of the photometric data acquired by Mariner 10 along the equator and the central meridian of Venusian disk, to find out whether or not submiron haze particles such-as those discovered planet-wise through the observations sand measurements by Pioneer Venus probes in 1978 were present in the planet's atmosphere already in 1974.Our results so farindicate that they actually were.4.Improving the ordinary Shift-and-Add technique to detect ; small moving bodies of our solar system based on desital sky survey images.