![\"\"](\"\/kater00\/files\/2026\/04\/global-visualization-compressed.gif\")
<\/a><\/p>\nMy current research uses infrared spectra (which probe Jupiter’s upper atmosphere) from the NIRSPEC instrument at Keck Observatory. I use h3ppy<\/a><\/em>, a Python package which models and fits H\u2083\u207a<\/b><\/span> emission lines, to compare bright emission lines in the same wavelength ranges as our data. H\u2083\u207a<\/b><\/span> is an especially nice molecule to observe thanks to its prevalence in the upper atmospheres of the giant planets and its tendency to emit in regions of methane absorption.<\/p>\n h3ppy<\/em> derives temperatures and densities from the magnitude ratios of H\u2083\u207a<\/b><\/span> emission line peaks, and with it, I map these temperatures and ion densities all over Jupiter. This will help determine how the environment in Jupiter’s upper atmosphere varies in local time over varying time spans and location (latitude and magnetic longitude)!<\/p>\n Below figure: preliminary temperatures mapped for 3 nights in 2022 and 2023. These nights overlap significantly in longitude and provide helpful comparisons for how temperature can vary on short (~1 month) and long (~1 year) timespans. They are the focus of my first paper!<\/p>\n Further details about these plots are available in my first paper, published in Planetary Science Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n My second paper, published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters,<\/a> expands from the initial ~30,000 temperature measurements to over 175,000 temperatures and ion densities, presents unprecedented\u00a0<\/span>global coverage, and finds an unexpectedly stable system over long time spans (years to decades)! Highlights from Figure 1 (below) include: (a) global evidence in favor of redistributed auroral energy heating the low latitudes, (b) a reconstruction of the morphology observed by filtered images of H\u2083\u207a<\/b><\/span> emission (Stallard+2018, images taken from 1995-2000) in its density (consistent over months, years, & decades), and (c) the first global estimate on H\u2083\u207a<\/b><\/span> radiance (at local noon) finds the majority is contributed by the low latitudes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Up next I will focusing on the short term variability we observe over days-long timespans, rather than viewing the entire dataset homogenously (as in my second paper). The primary focus will likely be on how significantly low latitude temperatures can change over these tightly packed observations (including a severe magnetospheric compression event in October 2024) and whether those changes can be attributed to variable aurora temperatures. Additionally, I plan to see how temperatures vary around the Great Red Spot, how significant density morphology changes are in time (and their consequences), and maybe I’ll include observations of the Io footprint!<\/p>\n (Here’s a short article my undergrad did about me and my research!)<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My current research uses infrared spectra (which probe Jupiter’s upper atmosphere) from the NIRSPEC instrument at Keck Observatory. I use h3ppy, a Python package which models and fits H\u2083\u207a emission lines, to compare bright emission lines in the same wavelength ranges as our data. H\u2083\u207a is an especially nice molecule to observe thanks to … Continue reading Research<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8812,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/kater00\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/35"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/kater00\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/kater00\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/kater00\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8812"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/kater00\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/kater00\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/35\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":265,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/kater00\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/35\/revisions\/265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/kater00\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Above figure: Example of the results of calculating temperatures from a single spectrum. Each pixel in the slit (the green line cutting through the planet on the left) has a corresponding spectrum (such as the 2D spectrum in the upper right where each row is an individual spectrum), and thus its temperature and density can be derived using an H\u2083\u207a<\/b><\/span> model. The fit from h3ppy is shown on the bottom right; specific emissions have been cropped from the wider spectrum (marked with a red X in the top spectrum) for input into the model. These individual fits map to specific longitudes and latitudes on Jupiter – the two examples on the bottom right are single positions at 1N, 132W and 73S, 132W.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n