Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) Observations of Titan 2004--2017

Abstract

From 2004 to 2017, the Cassini spacecraft orbited Saturn, completing 127 close flybys of its largest moon, Titan. Cassini's Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS), one of 12 instruments carried on board, profiled Titan in the thermal infrared (7-1000 microns) throughout the entire 13-year mission. CIRS observed on both targeted encounters (flybys) and more distant opportunities, collecting 8.4 million spectra from 837 individual Titan observations over 3633 hours. Observations of multiple types were made throughout the mission, building up a vast mosaic picture of Titan's atmospheric state across spatial and temporal domains. This paper provides a guide to these observations, describing each type and chronicling its occurrences and global-seasonal coverage. The purpose is to provide a resource for future users of the CIRS data set, as well as those seeking to put existing CIRS publications into the overall context of the mission, and to facilitate future inter-comparison of CIRS results with those of other Cassini instruments, and ground-based observations.

arXiv comment62 pages, 31 figures, 10 tables. CSV format table data included

References in corpus (9)

• Detection of Propene in Titan's Stratosphere
• Study of Titan's fall southern stratospheric polar cloud composition with Cassini/CIRS: detection of benzene ice
• Titan's Prolific Propane: The Cassini CIRS Perspective
• Upper limits for undetected trace species in the stratosphere of Titan
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• The ALMA archive and its place in the astronomy of the future

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Seasonal changes in the middle atmosphere of Titan from Cassini/CIRS observations: temperature and trace species abundance profiles from 2004 to 2017
• Spitzer IRS Observations of Titan as a Precursor to JWST MIRI Observations
• The D/H ratio in Titan's acetylene from high spectral resolution IRTF/TEXES observations