|
To date, the exotic fourth row species arsenic trihydride or arsine (As3) has
only been detected in the atmospheres of
Jupiter and
Saturn. In 1989,
Noll et al. detected arsine in the atmospheres
of both planets, while Bézard et al.
reported its presence in Saturn's atmosphere only.
The observations were made with the
UK Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) and the
Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (3.6m) (CFHT). The presence of arsine
on Saturn was confirmed by ISO observations by
de Graauw et al. in 1997. A 2017 study by
Giles et al. measured the variability of
arsine and other trace consituents in Jupiter using the
Very Large Telescope.
|
|
|
|
Arsine is one of several trace element
hydrides that have been detected in the gas giants, which also includes
phoshine (PH3) and
germane (GeH4), the latter of which has
also been detected in both
Jupiter and
Saturn. In spite of being toxic and
noxious, arsine is used in the semiconductor
industry in the production of materials such as
gallium arsenide.
|
