The following document lists the file abstract/BBEZARD_NEP_HYDR.abs
from catalogue VI/111.
A plain copy of the file
(without headers/trailers) may be downloaded.
===================================================================== ==> In this proposal, more time is being requested for BBEZARD.NEP_2 ===================================================================== We first propose to search for methyl radical (CH3) on Neptune using the grating mode of the SWS. This observation is a follow-up of the accepted proposal NEP_2 in which we originally proposed to search for various hydrocarbons on Neptune. The CH3 observations had to be removed to fit within the allocated time. We also propose to extend this search to Saturn using the F-P mode of the SWS. Photochemistry of methane in the atmospheres of the giant planets leads to the formation of various hydrocarbons. Methyl radical is supposedly the key pathway to the formation of ethane, the most abundant photochemically-produced molecule. Detecting this compound would provide an important test for some chemical schemes proposed in photochemical models and would help determining some poorly constrained atmospheric parameters such as the eddy mixing profile.