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Why and how studying Jupiter?
Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System. It has no surface, and its atmosphere is mainly composed of hydrogen and helium. Jupiter is of interest to the scientific community due to the extreme conditions at which its different species are exposed, result of the turbulent atmosphere of the planet.
Characterising the abundances, distribution, and variability of Jupiter’s atmospheric compounds will help constrain the conditions and chemical processes that produce them at different atmospheric levels. This, in turn, offers insight into the chemistry behind the coloration of the clouds and reveals how atmospheric motion and composition contribute to sustaining turbulences in the atmosphere.
MAJIS will help to answer these and other scientific questions by producing global maps of Jupiter’s atmosphere, besides tracking dynamical features on the planet. The spectro-imager is composed of two spectral channels covering a wavelength of 0.5-5.6 µm. BIRA-IASB focused on the VIS-NIR channel (0.5-2.5 µm) whose detectors were characterized at the B.RCLab, the radiometric laboratory of BIRA-IASB. This spectral range is useful to study the composition and dynamics of the Jovian atmosphere, especially the aerosols.
ASIMUT-ALVL and MAJIS
Complementary ASIMUT-ALVL, the radiative transfer tool developed by BIRA-IASB, has been upgraded recently to include the modelling of Jupiter’s atmosphere. For this purpose, it was necessary to implement new functionalities and parameters, such as the relevant most updated spectral data of molecules several accepted aerosols models used to model the Great Red Spot.
Based on the experimental specifications of the detectors, ASIMUT-ALVL enables us to perform simulations supporting the observations’ planning and the definition of browsing products.
For instance, our improved code was used to provide the preliminary definition of spectral masks necessary to constrain the data volume of MAJIS observations while preserving enough information to determine the variability of the atmospheric compounds.
Further analysis varying the vertical distribution of the species and exploring different atmospheric scenarios are required to continue supporting MAJIS scientific activities.
