Spatial imaging of UV emission from Jupiter and Saturn

Abstract

Spatial imaging with the IUE is accomplished both by moving one of the apertures in a series of exposures and within the large aperture in a single exposure. The image of the field of view subtended by the large aperture is focussed directly onto the detector camera face at each wavelength; since the spatial resolution of the instrument is 5 to 6 arc sec and the aperture extends 23.0 by 10.3 arc sec, imaging both parallel and perpendicular to dispersion is possible in a single exposure. The correction for the sensitivity variation along the slit at 1216 A is obtained from exposures of diffuse geocoronal H Ly alpha emission. The relative size of the aperture superimposed on the apparent discs of Jupiter and Saturn in typical observation is illustrated. By moving the planet image 10 to 20 arc sec along the major axis of the aperture (which is constrained to point roughly north-south) maps of the discs of these planets are obtained with 6 arc sec spatial resolution