The NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF), on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, has
set aside some time at the beginning and end of every night that the
NSFCAM facility infrared camera is mounted on the IRTF, and Jupiter is
observable, for a standardized set of observations of Jupiter in
support of the Galileo mission.  This program has taken place during
the primary and extended Galileo mission.  The observations of Jupiter
are coordinated by IJW Atmospheres Discipline member Glenn Orton, and
they are executed by IRTF telescope operators David Griep, William
Golisch and Paul Fukumura-Sawada.

The Galileo Monitoring Program Data

The NSFCAM imaging data taken to support the Galileo mission
investigation which is aimed specifically at Jupiter atmospheric and
auroral science is completely open to all investigators and may be used
in any publishable scientific investigations.  We request that you
acknowledge the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility Monitoring Program.
Questions on the use of the data and the development of the program
shouldbe be directed to Glenn Orton (go@orton.jpl.nasa.gov) for
atmospheric and auroral images.

The support program generates images of Jupiter at 5 wavelengths.  They
are made using discrete filters at:

1.58 microns (detecting sunlight reflected from deep clouds in the
absence of significant gaseous absorption and sensitive to cloud
particle albedos),

2.30 microns (detecting sunlight reflected from particles at the
100-mbar level and above),

3.78 microns (detecting sunlight reflected from particles at the 1-bar
level and higher, as well as to some H3+ emission near the poles),

and 4.78 microns (sensitive to thermal emission from clouds in the
absence of significant gaseous absorption).

An image of the north pole and the south pole were also taken at a
circular-variable-filter position at 3.55 microns that is sensitive
exclusively to H3+ auroral emission.

During the primary mission (1995 - 1997) the images were accompanied
each night by observations of a standard star and flat field
measurements at 1.58 and 2.30 microns (flat-field corrections at the
longer wavelengths were impractical and found to be unnecessary). This
sequnece took about 35 - 40 minutes to execute.

During the extended mission, only images of Jupiter were made, with
calibration and flat fields taken only on shifts granted to Orton for
real-time support during the few days of each Galileo orbit encounter.
This sequence took 19 minutes.  In early 2000, a more efficient mode of
taking data was devised that assumed the constancy of the sky near
Jupiter, reducing the observing time to just over 9 minutes.