BASIC RESEARCH ON AURORA AND AIRGLOW

Abstract

The principal instruments and facilities are described with special emphasis on new construction or modifications. This equipment includes two high dispersion grating spectrographs, two types of patrol spectrographs, ground- based, aircraft borne and balloon-borne infrared spectrometers, a scanning spectrometer for the visible and ultra violet regions with memory unit, two types of photometer for the study of twilight alkali emissions, a Michelson interferometer for the near infrared region and a temperature-measuring photometer for the measuring of auroral rotational temperatures. Also described are facilities for producing specialized interference filters, a source for the Vegard-Kaplan bands, intensity standards for absolute brightness measurements of aurora and a system for obtaining all-sky photographs through interference filters. There is also a brief description of two rocket borne photometers which are under development. Twilight airglow and dayglow measurements, observations of auroral emissions, of the night airglow and of auroral temperatures are discussed. A study is described of the possibility of measuring atmospheric temperatures using the vibrational ratios of N(2) bands. New quantitative measurements of the Vegard-Kaplan bands in the second positive bands of N(2) with the photo electric scanning spectrometer and memory are described.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 1963
Accession Number
AD0408612

Entities

People

  • A. Vallance Jones
  • D. M. Hunten

Organizations

  • University of Saskatchewan

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Alkali Metals
  • Atmospheric Physics
  • Atmospheric Temperature
  • Cameras
  • Construction
  • Contracts
  • Delay Lines
  • Detectors
  • Electronics Laboratories
  • Infrared Spectrometers
  • Measurement
  • Metals
  • Michelson Interferometers
  • Observatories
  • Spectra
  • Temperature Gradients

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aerospace Test and Evaluation
  • Astronomy and Astrophysics.
  • Molecular Photonics/Laser Physics