[Baps] Titan Seminar at BU by Dr. Henry Roe - April 5th

[Paul Withers]

http://www.bu.edu/iar/seminars/

       Astrophysics Seminar
        Monday, April 5, 2010
    Refreshments at 3:45pm in CAS500
     Talk begins at 4:00pm in CAS502

            Henry Roe
        Lowell Observatory

     "Titan's Methane Weather"

Abstract:
    "Titan, Saturn's largest moon, stands
out in our solar system as the sole moon with a
substantial atmosphere. Our understanding of
Titan has shifted considerably in the past 10-15
years. While once we thought of Titan's
troposphere as a quiescent place, lacking in
clouds or localized weather and only changing
subtly on long seasonal timescales, we now
understand the troposphere to be a dynamic
system with significant weather events regularly
occurring on top of the backdrop of dramatic
seasonal changes. Rather than being water-based,
as is the weather on Earth, Titan's weather is
dominated by the phase transitions of methane.
Much of this new understanding of Titan comes
from ground-based observations.  In recent years
the Cassini spacecraft has returned close-up
high-resolution images of Titan's weather, but
ground-based observations have continued to play
a crucial role in acquiring a well-sampled
temporal record of Titan's weather. Although the
observational record of Titan's weather covers
only roughly a third of its 30-year seasonal
cycle, Titan's atmospheric processes appear to
be more closely analogous to those of Earth than
any other object in our solar system. Our
observation strategy draws on a combination of
Keck, Gemini, NASA IRTF, and small robotic
telescopes.  Within the next few years Lowell
Observatory's new 4.3-m Discovery Channel Telescope
(DCT) will join our observing arsenal.  First
light for DCT is planned for DCT in early 2011
and I will finish by discussing its current
status and future prospects."


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Paul Withers                            Center for Space Physics
Office  +1 617 353 1531                 Boston University
Fax     +1 617 353 6463                 725 Commonwealth Avenue
Email   withers at bu.edu                  Boston MA 02215, USA
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