International Planetary Patrol Program

The NASA International Planetary Patrol Program consists of a network of astronomical observatories to collect uninterrupted images and observations of the large-scale atmospheric and surface features of the planets.[1] This group was established in 1969, and consisted of the Mauna Kea Observatory, the Mount Stromlo Observatory, the Perth Observatory, the Republic Observatory, the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, the Magdalena Peak Station of the New Mexico State University, and the Lowell Observatory.[2] [3] The activities were coordinated by William A. Baum of Lowell Observatory.[4]

For Mars, they monitoring clouds and dust storms, as well as the seasonal fluctuations in the climate. The martian dust storms of 1971 and 1973 were extensively covered. They also observe changes in the Jovian atmosphere, including the Great Red Spot. Venus has been monitored for circulation of the cloud deck.[1][4]

References

  1. 1 2 Baum, W. A. (September 1973). "The international planetary patrol program: An assessment of the first three years". Planetary and Space Science 21 (9): 1511–1519. Bibcode:1973P&SS...21.1511B. doi:10.1016/0032-0633(73)90058-5.
  2. Baum, W. A.; Millis, R. L.; Jones, S. E.; Martin, L. J. (May 1970). "The International Planetary Patrol Program". Icarus 12 (3): 435. Bibcode:1970Icar...12..435B. doi:10.1016/0019-1035(70)90012-6.
  3. Lumme, K., Esposito, L. W., Benton, W. D., & Baum, W. A. (September 1979). "International Planetary Patrol observations of Saturn's rings. I - Observations and data reduction". Astronomical Journal 84: 1402–1407. Bibcode:1979AJ.....84.1402L. doi:10.1086/112558.
  4. 1 2 Greeley, Ronald; Iversen, James D. (1987). Wind as a Geological Process: On Earth, Mars, Venus and Titan. Cambridge Planetary Science Series 4. CUP Archive. pp. 263–267. ISBN 0-521-35962-7.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, February 07, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.