U.S.-France Cooperative Research: The Composition and Structure of Planetary Atmospheres

该奖项将支持纽约州立大学石溪分校Tobias Owen教授与法国国家科学研究中心Meudon天文台Therese Encrenaz博士领导的一组法国天文学家之间的合作研究。这项研究的目的是继续对行星大气进行联合研究，特别强调有关金星和海王星大气的尚未解决的问题；火星上存在水的历史；以及木星大红斑的组成。在这个项目中，将获得并分析金星、木星和海王星大气的新红外光谱。此外，还将分析来自火星的旅行者号航天器的数据。默东天文台的天文学家在红外光谱领域处于世界领先地位。虽然许多高分辨率的光谱测量是在夏威夷莫纳克亚山的加拿大-法国-美国望远镜上进行的，但那里使用的傅里叶变换光谱仪是由一位法国合作者开发的。因此，这种合作极大地有助于获得该项目所需的精确实验数据。这一联合经验也有望对双方开发未来适用于红外光谱的仪器（如哈勃太空望远镜）有所帮助。

This award will support collaborative research between Prof. Tobias Owen, State University of New York at Stony Brook, and a group of French astronomers, led by Dr. Therese Encrenaz, at the Meudon Observatory, CNRS, in France. The objective of this research is to continue a joint study of planetary atmospheres, with particular emphasis on unresolved questions concerning the atmospheres of Venus and Neptune; the historical presence of water on Mars; and the composition of the Great Red Spot on Jupiter. In this project, new infrared spectra of the atmospheres of Venus, Jupiter, and Neptune will be obtained and analyzed. In addition, Voyager spacecraft data from Mars will be analyzed. Astronomers at the Meudon Observatory are world leaders in the field of infrared spectroscopy. Although many of the high-resolution spectroscopic measurements are made at the Canada-France-US Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, the Fourier Transform Spectrometer used there was developed by one of the French collaborators. The collaboration thus contributes greatly to the acquisition of the precise experimental data required for this project. The joint experience is also expected to be useful to both sides in the development of future instruments suitable for infrared spectroscopy, such as the Hubble Space Telescope.