Hyperspectral AO Observations of Solar System Objects

We describe planetary science observations made with the Goddard Space Flight Center, acoustooptic tunable filter (AOTF) camera. This camera is a newly developed RF-tunable spectrophotometric imager with a spectral bandwidth of 25 cm and a tuning range from0.5 to 1.0 micron. The observations that we report here were made at the Starfire Optical Range 1.5-meter laser-beacon adaptive optics telescope facility. Observations of Jupiter and Saturn are reported. The superior spectral resolution of the AOTF camera was exploited to image these objects both in and out of molecular absorption bands, allowing us to sound to different depths in their respective atmospheres. The Jupiter and some of the Saturn observations were made during the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collisions in July 1994. Saturn (and Titan) was observed again in September 1995. The enhanced spatial resolution offered by the adaptive optics facility allowed us to observe cloud and storm activity in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn that are not normally observable with conventional ground-based telescopes. In this paper we will emphasize post-observation data processing including the determination of pointspread-function and deconvolution techniques to enhance the collected images. Our newest AOTF camera operates in the near-IR, 1.7-3.4 micron (Chanover et al. 1998). We will discuss future plans to use this camera at an adaptive optics facility, in a coordinated observing campaign in support of the Mars Global Surveyor mission.