Continuing Studies of Planetary Atmospheres Associated With Experiments on the Galileo Jupiter Probe and Infrared Observations of Venus

摘要

The results of the nephelometer experiment conducted aboard the Probe of the Galileo mission to Jupiter are presented. The tenuous clouds and sparse particulate matter in the relatively particle-free 5-micron 'hot spot' region of the Probe's descent were documented from about 0.46 bars to about 12 bars. Three regions of apparent coherent structure were noted, in addition to many indications of extremely small particle concentrations along the descent path. The descriptions document the small number densities of particles, the moderate particle sizes, generally in the slightly submicron to few micron range, and the resulting small optical depths, mass densities due to particles, column particle number loading and column mass loading in the atmosphere encountered by the Galileo Probe during its descent.