Limb Profiles From Low Earth Orbit

J. F. Carbary; C. I. Meng

doi:10.1117/12.962530

28 December 1989 Limb Profiles From Low Earth Orbit

J. F. Carbary, C. I. Meng

Proceedings Volume 1158, Ultraviolet Technology III; (1989) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.962530
Event: 33rd Annual Technical Symposium, 1989, San Diego, United States

Abstract

Recent satellite observations of the airglow in the 180-320 nm regime have provided detailed profiles of the noon, midnight, dawn and dusk limbs. Pitch maneuvers allowed spectrographs and imagers to scan the earth limbs through tangent altitudes from -100 km to +250 km. A UV imager observed the atmospheric emissions with an angular resolution of 10-4 radians/pixel, while a spectrograph simultaneously obtained UV spectra with a spectral resolution of 1 nm. The combination of these instruments allowed the vertical and spectral characterization of the earth limb emissions. Caused by solar fluorescence, the NO 7 band emissions dominate the noon, dusk, and dawn spectra, while the 02 Herzberg I emissions dominate the midnight limb. The peak in these emissions varies with solar zenith angle, with the peak emssion increasing in altitude with solar zenith angle. The measured intensities vary from 4 R at midnight at 200 km to 101 R at noon at 50 km.

Citation Download Citation

J. F. Carbary and C. I. Meng "Limb Profiles From Low Earth Orbit", Proc. SPIE 1158, Ultraviolet Technology III, (28 December 1989); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.962530

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