Kunio M Sayanagi1, Lawrence Anthony Sromovsky2, Patrick M Fry2, Imke De Pater3, Heidi B Hammel4, Kathy A. Rages5, Christoph Baranec6, Marc Delcroix7, Anthony Wesley8, Ricardo Hueso9, Agustin Sanchez-Lavega10, Amy A Simon11, Michael H Wong3, Glenn S Orton12 and Patrick GJ Irwin13,
(1)Hampton University, Hampton, VA, United States, (2)University of
Wisconsin Madison, Madison, WI, United States, (3)University of
California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States, (4)Association of
Universities for Research in Astronomy, Washington, DC, United States,
(5)SETI Institute Mountain View (Retired), Mountain View, CA, United
States, (6)University of Hawai'i, Institute for Astronomy, Hilo, HI,
United States, (7)Société Astronomique de France, Paris, France,
(8)Acquerra Pty. Ltd, Murrumbateman, Australia, (9)University of the
Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Bilbao, Spain, (10)University of the Basque
Country, Donostia, Spain, (11)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, MD, United States, (12)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, CA, United States, (13)University of Oxford, Oxford, United
Kingdom
Abstract Text:
We report the temporal evolution of bright, long-lived cloud
features on Uranus. We observed and tracked the features between August
2014 and January 2015 with the Hubble Space Telescope, the Keck 2 10-m
telescope, VLT, Gran Telescopio Canarias, Gemini, William Herschel
Telescope, Robo-AO, Pic du Midi 1-m telescope, and multiple smaller
telescopes operated by amateur astronomers. Surprisingly bright features
were first revealed in the Keck adaptive-optics images in August; this
initial set of observations motivated follow-up observations around the
world. One of the storms (identified as “Feature F” in Sromovsky et al.
2015, and Feature 2 in de Pater et al. 2015), which was the deepest in
that dataset, was bright enough that it was detected by multiple amateur
observers, permitting us to trigger a Hubble Target of Opportunity
(ToO) observation on October 14th, 2014. A complex of
features at this latitude was also observed by Hubble as part of the
Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program on November 8-9, 2014. We
will present the temporal evolution of the cloud activities from August
2014 through January 2015, and analyze the vertical structure of the
cloud features in the Hubble datasets.
The Hubble images used in our study were collected with support of HST grants GO13712 to KMS and GO13937 to AAS.
Sromovsky et al. 2015, “High S/N Keck and Gemini AO imaging of
Uranus during 2012–2014: New cloud patterns, increasing activity, and
improved wind measurements.” Icarus 258, 192-223.
de Pater et al. 2014, “Record-breaking storm activity on Uranus in 2014.” Icarus 252, 121-128
Title:
HST and ground-based observations of bright storms on Uranus during 2014-2015.
Submitter's E-mail Address:
kunio.sayanagi@hamptonu.edu
Preferred Presentation Format:
Assigned by Program Committee (Oral or Poster)
Presenting Author
Kunio M Sayanagi
Primary Email:
kunio.sayanagi@hamptonu.edu
Phone:
5208701554
Affiliation(s):
Hampton University
Hampton
VA
(United States)
Lawrence Anthony Sromovsky
Primary Email:
larry.sromovsky@ssec.wisc.edu
Phone:
(608)263-6785
Affiliation(s):
University of Wisconsin Madison
Madison
WI
53706
(United States)
Patrick M Fry
Primary Email:
pat.fry@ssec.wisc.edu
Affiliation(s):
University of Wisconsin Madison
Madison
WI
53706
(United States)
Imke De Pater
Primary Email:
imke@berkeley.edu
Phone:
5106437673
Affiliation(s):
University of California Berkeley
Berkeley
CA
94720
(United States)
Heidi B Hammel
Primary Email:
hbh@alum.mit.edu
Phone:
2028432101
Affiliation(s):
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy
Washington
DC
(United States)
Kathy A. Rages
Primary Email:
khurzap2@hotmail.com
Affiliation(s):
SETI Institute Mountain View (Retired)
Mountain View
CA
(United States)
Christoph Baranec
Primary Email:
baranec@hawaii.edu
Affiliation(s):
University of Hawai'i
Institute for Astronomy
Hilo
HI
(United States)
Marc Delcroix
Primary Email:
delcroix.marc@free.fr
Affiliation(s):
Société Astronomique de France
Paris
(France)
Anthony Wesley
Primary Email:
awesley@acquerra.com.au
Affiliation(s):
Acquerra Pty. Ltd
Murrumbateman
(Australia)
Ricardo Hueso
Primary Email:
ricardo.hueso@ehu.es
Affiliation(s):
University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU)
Bilbao
(Spain)
Agustin Sanchez-Lavega
Primary Email:
agustin.sanchez@ehu.es
Affiliation(s):
University of the Basque Country
Donostia
(Spain)
Amy A Simon
Primary Email:
Amy.Simon@nasa.gov
Phone:
3012866738
Affiliation(s):
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt
MD
(United States)
Michael H Wong
Primary Email:
mikewong@astro.berkeley.edu
Phone:
510-224-3411
Affiliation(s):
University of California Berkeley
Berkeley
CA
94720
(United States)
Glenn S Orton
Primary Email:
go@scn.jpl.nasa.gov
Phone:
8183542460
Affiliation(s):
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Pasadena
CA
(United States)
Patrick GJ Irwin
Primary Email:
irwin@atm.ox.ac.uk
Affiliation(s):
University of Oxford
Oxford
(United Kingdom)