On a mechanism of polarization origin at the polar regions of Jupiter

Abstract

We propose the following mechanism of linear polarization origin at Jupiter’s polar regions: the principal contribution in polarization is made by the light reflected by cloud layer and then scattered by stratospheric aerosol particles. The linear polarization distributions along the central meridian for two spectral bands (0.46 μm and 0.70 μm) are calculated. They are in good qualitative agreement with observational data. The mean scattering particle radius is estimated as rmean = 0.5 μm.