(This text was originally written by Allan Meyer and Terry Duncan on 03-April-95)
Jonas Zmuidzinas (CalTech) and his colleagues used his submillimeter spectrometer to detect cold water vapor in interstellar molecular clouds. The observed feature was a ground state transition of isotopic water, ortho-H218O, at 547GHz (0.55mm.), which was seen in absorption in SgrB2 (near the galactic center), and was seen in emission in OMC-1 (M 42) during the February flights.
While the KAO cruised high above Brazil's tropical thunderstorms, the PI team successfully recorded several dimmings of the background star apparently due to dust and gas jets near Chiron's surface. It was later deter-mined that the KAO missed the center of Chiron's "shadow" by only 60±10 miles, setting an upper limit on the radius of the object (see Nature, vol.353, p.46 - January 5, 1995).
Three flights were flown on consecutive nights with the Cornell University instrument KEGS (Kuiper Echelle Grating Spectrometer) installed; the PI team included G. Bjoraker of GSFC, and the Cornell U. instrument team: T. Herter, G. Gull, B. Pirger and S. Stolovy. Spectra were taken with a resolution of 9000 alternately at 7.7µm and at 23µm. The 5 arc-second wide slit was centered on the impact site. As shown in the adjacent sequence, the continuum and the methane features became very bright as soon as Jupiter's rotation brought the impact site into view, and then faded with a half-hour time scale. Three high-temperature water vapor emission lines also appeared for about 10 minutes, fading away completely after 20 minutes.
On July 20 the HIFOGS (High-efficiency Infrared Faint Object Grating Spectrometer) was installed onto the KAO telescope. The P.I. instrument team was F. Witteborn, D. Wooden and R. Kozlowski (Ames); and the Guest Investigators were A. Sprague and D. Hunten (LPL). HIFOGS was used to observe the effects of the impact of fragment R on July 21, and fragments V and W the next day. Numerous spectra were obtained during the hours following each impact, spanning 4.9 - 9.4 µm (see examples in figure), and also 9.3 - 14.5 µm. Bright emission features that appeared in the post-impact spectra included water vapor (6.6 µm), methane (7.7 µm), and acetylene (13.7 µm). Line ratios indicate the water vapor was at about 500 K. Further analysis by the Guest Investigators identified an emission feature due to SO2. Sulfur dioxide is not normally present in Jupiter's atmosphere, but was apparently produced by the mixing of large quantities (~106 kg) of water vapor and sulfur in the impact area.
The FOSTER Program was represented on the Jupiter/SL9 expedition by Michael Ahern, who participated in several of the flights. In addition, the Can-Do Project, a special science education program of the Charleston County, South Carolina School District*, arranged to install a film camera on the telescope headring. The motorized camera was operated in flight by participating teachers, including Jim Nicholson, Tom O'Brien, Jeri Calhoun, Robin Ruthorford, Carol Swan, and Carol Temple.