Alberto Adriani
INAF Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology, Italy
Title: The Jovian InfraRed Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) on board Juno: Performances and results
Biography
Biography: Alberto Adriani
Abstract
The activity of JIRAM, the Jovian InfraRed Auroral Mapper on board Juno, falls under the scientific responsibility of the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Planetology of INAF. The instrument incorporates a spectrometer and a camera that work in the field of infrared wavelengths between 2 and 5 microns. For the Juno mission, it has been set for providing maps on the infrared aurora generated by the H3+ ion and methane, the thermal emission of the planet near the 5 micron spectral window and the characterization of the planetary emission in the aforementioned spectral range with a resolution of 9 nm. The camera has a field of view of 6° x 3.5° and the single pixel field of view is about 240 µrad corresponding to a spatial resolution of the instrument, at a reference pressure level of 1 bar on Jupiter, that can vary from 2 km to 300 km depending on the distance of the spacecraft from the planet. The primary objectives of JIRAM on Juno are the study of the polar aurorae and the atmosphere of Jupiter up to the depths (depending on the presence of clouds and atmospheric opacity) of 3-5 bar in terms of chemical composition related to some minority gases (water, ammonia and phosphine), microphysics (clouds) and atmospheric dynamics. The hardware and the software of the instrument have been realized in Italy according to the scientific goals of the Juno mission at Jupiter. Results from the mission will be presented to show the capabilities of the instrument which can be used and opportunely specialized for those future missions that would require a remote sensing instrument able to operate in the JIRAM spectral range.