VIRTIS: The Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer

G. Piccioni , P. Drossart (1) , E. Suetta , M. Cosi , E. Amannito , A. Barbis , R. Berlin , A. Bocaccini , G. Bonello , M. Bouyé (1) , F. Capaccioni , G. Cherubini , M. Dami , O. Dupuis (1) , A. Fave (1) , G. Filacchione , Y. Hello (1) , F. Henry (1) , S. Hofer , G. Huntzinger (1) , R. Melchiorri , J. Parisot (1) , C. Pasqui , G. Peter , C. Pompei , J. M. Rèess (1) , A. Semery (1) , A. Soufflot (2) , A. Adriani , F. Angrilli , G. Arnold , K. Baines , G. Bellucci , J. Benkhoff , B. Bezard (1) , J. -P. Bibring (2) , A. Blanco , M. I. Blecka , R. Carlson , A. Coradini , A. Di Lellis , T. Encrenaz (1) , S. Erard (1) , S. Fonti , V. Formisano , T. Fouchet (1) , R. Garcia (3) , R. Haus , J. Helbert , N. I. Ignatiev , P. Irwin , Y. Langevin (2) , S. Lebonnois (4) , M. A. Lopez Valverde , D. Luz (3) , M. Marinangeli , V. Orofino , A. V. Rodin , M. C. Roos-Serote , B. Saggin , A. Sanchez-Lavega , B. M. Stam , F. Taylor , D. Titov , G. Visconti , M. Zambelli

1 LESIA (UMR_8109) - Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique
2 IAS - Institut d'astrophysique spatiale
3 IPGP - Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
4 LMD - Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (UMR 8539)

The VIRTIS imaging spectrometer built for ESA's Rosetta cometary mission is a versatile instrument that is also well-suited to Venus observations. The discovery of the near-IR windows in the atmosphere of Venus from ground-based observations in the 1980s showed that the surface of the planet can be studied via IR observations over the nightside. Imaging spectroscopy in the visible and near-IR can study the atmosphere from the uppermost layers down to the deepest levels. With its unique combination of mapping capabilities at low spectral resolution (VIRTIS-M) and high spectral resolution slit spectroscopy (VIRTIS-H), the instrument is ideal for making extensive IR and visible spectral images of the planet.

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]

G. Piccioni, P. Drossart, E. Suetta, M. Cosi, E. Amannito, et al.. VIRTIS: The Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer. 2007. ⟨insu-03603172⟩