Planetary astronomers at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory are coordinating a worldwide network of ground-based observatories to provide continuous temporal coverage of the Jovian atmosphere. Custom interfaced coronagraph/spectrographs are being deployed to the following observatories: La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain; Las Campanas, Chile; S. Pedro Martir, Baja N., Mexico; AMOS Maui, Hawaii; Mt. John, New Zealand; Siding Spring, Australia, Perth, Australia, Diego Garcia, Indian Ocean; Wise, Israel. The CINE observatories will use coronagraphs to block the light of Jupiter to allow observations of the dust particle fragmentation as they pass through the Jovian magnetosphere, to measure the time-dependent flux and take spectra of the meteors as their light is reflected from Jovian satellites and to look for brightness and structure changes in the faint Jovian rings.
Contact: Dr. Steve Larson, University of Arizona, (602) 621-4973.
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