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Radar Imaging of the Planets Using the Very Large Array

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2016

Duane O. Muhleman,
Bryan J. Butler,
Martin A. Slade and
Arie W. Grossman
Duane O. Muhleman
Affiliation:
California Institute of Technology
Bryan J. Butler
Affiliation:
California Institute of Technology
Martin A. Slade
Affiliation:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Arie W. Grossman
Affiliation:
University of Maryland

Extract

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We have used the VLA to make images of the planets which are continuously illuminated by the high power planetary radar transmitter on the 70 meter antenna at Goldstone, CA. That instrument is capable of transmitting up to 460,000 watts of continuous power near 8.5 GHz. Radar imaging experiments became possible after the installation of the 8.5 GHz receivers on all VLA antennas by NASA for the encounter of the Voyager spacecraft with Uranus. A similar radar may be configured with the Australia Telescope (array) at Narrabri and the Goldstone 70 m at S-band which may be important for experiments on Venus whose atmosphere strongly absorbs at X-band. Highly successful experiments have been carried out at the VLA on Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn's rings and Titan, the giant satellite of Saturn.

Information

Type
Frontier Techniques
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 158: Very High Angular Resolution Imaging , 1994, pp. 457 - 468
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1994 

References

Butler, B.J., Muhleman, D.O. and Slade, M.A.: 1993, ‘Mercury: Full Disk Radar Images, and the Detection and Stability of Ice at the North Pole’, In press, J. Geophys. Res. Google Scholar
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