Context. A stellar occultation by Neptune’s main satellite, Triton, was observed on 5 October 2017 from Europe, North Africa, and the USA. We derived 90 light curves from this event, 42 of which yielded a central flash detection. Aims. We aimed at constraining Triton’s atmospheric structure and the seasonal variations of its atmospheric pressure since the Voyager 2 epoch (1989). We also derived the shape of the lower atmosphere from central flash analysis. Methods. We used Abel inversions and direct ray-tracing code to provide the density, pressure, and temperature profiles in the altitude range ~8 km to ~190 km, corresponding to pressure levels from 9 µbar down to a few nanobars. Results. (i) A pressure of 1.18 ± 0.03 µbar is found at a reference radius of 1400 km (47 km altitude). (ii) A new analysis of the Voyager 2 radio science occultation shows that this is consistent with an extrapolation of pressure down to the surface pressure obtained in 1989. (iii) A survey of occultations obtained between 1989 and 2017 suggests that an enhancement in surface pressure as reported during the 1990s might be real, but debatable, due to very few high S/N light curves and data accessible for reanalysis. The volatile transport model analysed supports a moderate increase in surface pressure, with a maximum value around 2005-2015 no higher than 23 µbar. The pressures observed in 1995-1997 and 2017 appear mutually inconsistent with the volatile transport model presented here. (iv) The central flash structure does not show evidence of an atmospheric distortion. We find an upper limit of 0.0011 for the apparent oblateness of the atmosphere near the 8 km altitude.

Context. The tenuous nitrogen (N2) atmosphere on Pluto undergoes strong seasonal effects due to high obliquity and orbital eccentricity, and has recently (July 2015) been observed by the New Horizons spacecraft. Aims. The main goals of this study are (i) to construct a well calibrated record of the seasonal evolution of surface pressure on Pluto and (ii) to constrain the structure of the lower atmosphere using a central flash observed in 2015. Methods. Eleven stellar occultations by Pluto observed between 2002 and 2016 are used to retrieve atmospheric profiles (density, pressure, temperature) between altitude levels of ~5 and ~380 km (i.e. pressures from ~ 10 μbar to 10 nbar). Results. (i) Pressure has suffered a monotonic increase from 1988 to 2016, that is compared to a seasonal volatile transport model, from which tight constraints on a combination of albedo and emissivity of N2 ice are derived. (ii) A central flash observed on 2015 June 29 is consistent with New Horizons REX profiles, provided that (a) large diurnal temperature variations (not expected by current models) occur over Sputnik Planitia; and/or (b) hazes with tangential optical depth of ~0.3 are present at 4–7 km altitude levels; and/or (c) the nominal REX density values are overestimated by an implausibly large factor of ~20%; and/or (d) higher terrains block part of the flash in the Charon facing hemisphere.

Aims. Occultations of bright stars by planets provide information on the state of their atmospheres. An occultation of the bright star 45 Capricornii (HIP 107302) by Jupiter occurred on the night of 3/4 August 2009. Methods. The event was observed at multiple sites in Europe, Africa and South America and with instruments ranging in aperture from 0.4 m to 2.2 m. All observations, except one, were carried out in methane absorption bands centred at 0.89 μm and 2.2 μm to minimise the planetary contribution to the measured stellar flux. Following the application of special post-processing techniques, differential photometry was performed. Nearby bright satellites were used as reference sources. Results. Fifteen lightcurves were obtained. The photometric time series for fourteen of these were fitted to a model atmosphere of constant scale height (H). Estimates of H for most lightcurves lie within the range 20−30 km with an inverse-variance weighted mean of 23.6 ± 0.4 km, in good agreement with previous works. A comparison between half-light times at ingress and at egress implies an astrometric offset of 10−15 mas in Jupiter’s position relative to the star. Five lightcurves – two for ingress and three for egress – were numerically inverted into profiles of pressure versus temperature. Isothermal, mutually consistent behaviour is observed within the pressure range 3−10 μbar. The inferred temperature of 165 ± 5 K is consistent with, but slightly higher than, that measured by the Galileo Probe at 5 ◦ S latitude in 1995 at the same pressure level. Subtraction of isothermal models for nine cases show the presence of at least one, and possibly two, non-isothermal layers a few tens of km below the half-light datum. Their altitudes are similar to those of features previously reported during the occultation of HIP 9369 in 1999. Our temperature estimates are consistent with the expected small magnitude of the perturbation of the atmosphere following the impact event on Jupiter in July 2009.