An Analysis of the Spectrum of Mars
- Creators
- Kaplan, Lewis D.
- Münch, Guido
- Spinrad, Hyron
Abstract
On a high-dispersion spectrogram of Mars taken at Mount Wilson rotational lines of H_2O near λ 8300 and CO_2 near λ 8700 have been detected. Recent laboratory measurements of line strengths by D. Rank have been used to determine the amounts of H_2O and CO_2 in the atmosphere of Mars: 14 ± 7 μ precipitable water and 55 ± 20 m atm CO_2. From the absence of O_2 in the Martian spectra, we set an upper limit of 70 cm atm for the O_2 content. By suitably combining the CO_2 amount with observations by Kuiper and Sinton of the strongly saturated bands in the 2-μ. region, a surface pressure of 25 ± 15 mb has been derived. The implications of the results on the composition of the Martian atmosphere are discussed.
Additional Information
© 1964 American Astronomical Society. Received November 11, 1963. It is a pleasure to express our thanks to Professor D. Rank for providing us with unpublished laboratory data, to Professor W. S. Benedict for discussions on the H_2O spectrum, and to Professor G. P. Kuiper for sending us his observations in advance of publication.Attached Files
Published - 1964ApJ___139____1K.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 59418
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20150811-124650209
- Created
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2015-08-11Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-10Created from EPrint's last_modified field