Terahertz Remote-Sensing of the Venusian Atmosphere: Observations Using the Nobeyama Millimeter Array

摘要

Venusian spectra at the terahertz region are characteristic of several rotational absorption lines of minor constituents superposed on a continuum of the atmospheric thermal emission. The intensity of the continuum emission varies from 700 to 200 K with increasing the observing frequency from radio to terahertz region, which enables us to observe the Venusian atmosphere in a wide vertical range: from the surface to the cloud top. The rotational lines provide us effective tools not just to retrieve the vertical and horizontal distribution of minor constituents but also to measure the wind velocity via Doppler-shift of the line center frequency. In this paper, the results of the aperture synthesis observations of Venus using the Nobeyama Mittimeter Array are presented.