Longitudinal variations, the opposition effect and monochromatic albedos for Mars

Abstract

Observations of Mars previously reported in 10 narrow bands between 3150 Å and 1.06 μ and in UBV are analyzed for brightness variations which correlate with longitude of the central meridian. Such an effect is found for λ ≥ 5000 Å, with some evidence for such a correlation at λ = 4570 Å. The data are then corrected to the mean (over longitude) brightness and a linear phase curve fitted to those observations with phase angle i ≥ 15°. An opposition effect (anomalous brightening at small phase angles) is found for wavelengths λ ≤ 5500 Å, in contrast to a result previously reported. The magnitude at zero phase, phase coefficient, and monochromatic albedo are computed for Mars as a function of wavelength.