LATITUDINAL TEMPERATURE-VARIATIONS OF JOVIAN H-3(+)

A spectral image of Jupiter centred on 3.45 mum, taken on the night of April 2, 1992, using cooled grating spectrometer CGS4 on the United K ingdom Infrared Telescope, shows that features due to the nu2 ro-vibra tional band of H-3+ extend right across the planet. Analysis of these features indicates that the jovian disk may be divided into three regi ons-two mid-high latitude regions with temperatures around 800 K and a hotter, central region with a temperature around 1200 K. The central meridian longitude of the image in the jovian System III is 102-degree s, coinciding with the region of the Lyman-a Bulge. The significance o f new work on the bulge for understanding this image is discussed. The image also shows an interesting doublet centred on 3.52 mum. Candidat es for this feature are discussed; none is found to be SatiSfactory. ( C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.