| I present a unique design for an on-axis guide camera intended to fit inside TEXES, the Texas Echelon Cross Echelle Spectrograph. Using a new technology gold nanomesh resonant IR filter/mirror as the dichroic, this unique system is designed to pass 60% of the near-infrared 3.6 mum light to the guide camera detector while reflecting, with 98% efficiency that of a regular gold coated mirror, light with wavelengths longer than 5 mum to the dispersive elements of TEXES. Its compact size, minimal impact on long wavelength efficiency, and high speed guiding ability make it an attractive addition to TEXES.;High spectral resolution mid-infrared observations of Saturn using TEXES on the IRTF, NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility, are used to constrain stratospheric photochemistry and dynamics. These observations, taken during Saturn's southern summer solstice, display substantial increases in emission from the equator to the south pole. By modeling the CH4 emission line spectra, I infer the stratospheric temperature and find that it increases from the equator to the south pole by 9 K. I derive the latitudinal abundance variations of C2H2, found to decrease from the equator to the south pole, and C2H6, found to increase from the equator to the south pole, by modeling the observed acetylene and ethane spectra and using the temperatures inferred from the methane data. I discuss the implications these trends have on the time scale of Saturn's stratospheric circulation. I also present the first detection of propane, C3H8, in Saturn's stratosphere. I derive a mixing ratio of 4.0+1.2-0.9x10-8 assuming a constant distribution above 9 mbar with none below. These molecules are photochemical by-products of methane photolysis. The temperature and molecular abundance information will be available to constrain 2-D photo-chemical models, those that depend on altitude and latitude, seasonal climate models, and global circulation models. I describe the automation of the line-by-line radiative transfer code I developed as an analysis tool. The automation will make it possible for data sets, substantially larger than the Saturn data set, to be analyzed in a systematic way and in a reasonable amount of time. |
