Shedding (vacuum ultraviolet) light on Jupiter's atmosphere

摘要

Chemical processing in the stratospheres of the gas-giant planets is driven by incident vacuum ultravioLet (VUV) light.Ethane (C2H6) is a critical participant in this atmospheric chemistry but,until recently,its VUV photochemistry had not been well established,largely because its longest wavelength absorption features occur at wavelengths shorter than those afforded by any commercial laser system.