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Jeffrey L. Sadino
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Jeffrey L. Sadino
NASA - JPL Research
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Using the
Infrared Telescope Facility atop Mauna Kea to image Titan, photon
fluxes were calculated for data that spanned over three years. Also, using the
Composite
Infrared Spectrometer onboard Cassini, radiance measurements, and thus
surface brightness temperatures, were analyzed and plotted.
The goal of the research was to discover phenomena on Titan's surface. It is possible to determine the material on the surface from the surface albedo, i.e. the more photons we see, the more reflective the surface is. Also, if an area's albedo properties change over time, we can suspect that the surface is changing due to some sort of resurfacing or atmospheric process.
The CIRS instrument was capable of seeing through Titan's thick haze. By measuring the surface radiance for a quarter of the moon, we were able to produce a map of Titan's surface brightness temperatures. Any phenomena, including cryogenic volcanoes or methane lakes, would appear as hot or cold spots on the map.
I used the Solaris operating system and the Python language for a vast majority of the work, including the MatLab-type matplotlib package for data visualization. Several IDL scripts were written for array analysis and visualization.
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