ATMOSPHERIC INFERENCES FROM PLANETARY LIMB DARKENING.

Abstract

The theory of planetary limb darkening is developed using a parabolic limb approximation to account for the curvature of the atmosphere. The inapplicability of the plane parallel model for structural inferences from planetary limb observations is demonstrated. Closed form expressions are obtained for the optical depth, weighting function, and other radiance parameters appropriate to the problem. The peaked character of the weighting function resulting from the curved geometry makes possible, as a first approximation, a direct point-to-point inversion of the radiance profile to obtain the temperature structure. The theory is applied to the Venus limb observations of Westphal (1966) and the inferences and limitations of the data are discussed. Finally, the similarity of the radiance equation to Abel's integral leads to the expectation that the full-blown inversion problem is amenable to solution. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 03, 1968
Accession Number
AD0669377

Entities

People

  • Jean I. F. King

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Atmospheres
  • Curvature
  • Equations
  • Geometric Forms
  • Geometry
  • Integrals
  • Inversion
  • Lines (Geometry)
  • Mathematics
  • Observation
  • Personality
  • Radiance
  • Weighting Functions

Readers

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Calculus or Mathematical Analysis
  • Spectroscopy.

Technology Areas

  • AI & ML
  • AI & ML - Bayesian Inference
  • AI & ML - Machine Learning Algorithms