Gas Giants Telescope Observations

I have been interested in studying the reflectance spectra of the 'Gas Giants' (Jupiter and Saturn) since the start of my career, working on Galileo/NIMS observations of Jupiter in 1990s and Cassini/CIRS observations of both planets in the 2000s. I have also been invokved in ground-based observations since 2016.

In 2019 I led a paper applying new ammonia (NH₃) line data toi VLT/MUSE observations of Jupiter, published in Irwin et al., Icarus, 321, 572 - 582, 2019, doi: 10.1016/j.icarus.2018.12.008.

Most recently, I led a paper analysing a technique rediscovered by an amateur astronomer to infer cloud heights and ammonia abundances from filter imaged observations at visible wavelengths. We applied this technique to our VLT/MUSE observations, demonstrating how it worked and yielding a new insight into the vertical structure of Jupiter's clouds. Thus work was published in Irwin et al., JGR-Planets, 130, e2024JE008622, doi: 10.1029/2024JE008622. This paper attracted some media interest .