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Saturn

CIRS temperature map of Saturn's south pole, overlain on an ISS Image. Cyclonic flows and hot temperatures indicate a warm summer polar vortex.

Lab personnel are deeply involved in the study of the Saturn system, both from the Cassini mission (prime mission, 2004-2008, extended mission 2008-2010 and possible extended, extended, mission 2010-2017) and ground-based facilities. Interests include the study of Saturn and Titan's atmospheres, the surfaces of the icy satellites, and the spectacular rings system using data from the Radio Science Subsystem (part of the communications system), the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (GSFC built and managed) and the Imaging Science Subsystem (JPL built and SSI managed).

CIRS mid-day temperatures compared with ISS surface features on Iapetus.

Color composite indicating composition in Titan's atmosphere.
Red = methane band at 1304 cm-1, green = HCN at 713 cm-1 and blue = Diacetylene at 628 cm-1.

A full CIRS spectrum of Titan with molecular signatures labeled.

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