Titan's haze structure in 1999 from spatially‐resolved narrowband imaging surrounding the 0.94 μm methane window

Abstract

We use narrowband images of Titan obtained in November 1999 to explore the haze vertical structure in Titan's lower atmosphere. The images were taken with the Mount Wilson 2.54 m telescope using the NASA/GSFC‐built Acousto‐Optic Imaging Spectrometer. These images were recorded at five wavelengths surrounding the 0.94 μm methane window and are sensitive to a range of altitudes in Titan's lower atmosphere. We characterize Titan's limb darkening by fitting the Minnaert function limb darkening coefficient k to our data at 0° latitude and compare our observed limb darkening to that predicted from three radiative transfer models. The vertical haze profiles suggest a gap in haze below 75 km, with an increase in haze abundance near the surface.