A Calibration of the Naval Postgraduate School Middle Ultraviolet Spectrograph and an Analysis of the OII 2470 A and OI 2972 A Emissions Obtained from Mid-Latitude Rocket Observations

Abstract

The MUSTANG instrument was calibrated using standard techniques to determine the sensitivity and wavelength calibrations and field of view. The instrument was launched aboard a NASA sounding rocket on March 30, 1990. Post- flight tests indicated that the calibration did not change as a result of the rocket experiment. Ultraviolet dayglow spectra of the Earth's ionosphere were obtained from approximately 100 km to 320 km in altitude over a wavelength range of 1800 A to 3400 A. The spectra were divided into 512 pixels of approximately 3.134 A per pixel. Analyses of the data from 2420 A to 2490 A and from 2920 A to 2972 A were conducted to obtain the intensity profiles of the OII 2470.4 A multiplet and the OI 2972.3 A line emission, respectively. The intensity profile of the OII 2470.4 A multiplet was found to have a broad peak of 1.6 kR centered at approximately 250 km. The intensity profile of the OI 2972.3 A line emission shows a general trend of decreasing intensity with altitude. The maximum intensity of 3.6 kR was found at 105 km and the minimum of 137 R at 315 km. A partial layer, with an intensity of 4.1 kR, was evident near 150 km.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1990
Accession Number
ADA240686

Entities

People

  • Carl K. Andersen

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Sensors
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Calibration
  • Detectors
  • Diffraction
  • Electromagnetic Metamaterials
  • Electromagnetic Scattering
  • Exclusion Principle
  • Grids
  • Ionosphere
  • Light Sources
  • Measurement
  • Mirrors
  • Quantum Mechanics
  • Sounding Rockets
  • Spectra
  • Standards
  • United States
  • X Rays

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics.
  • Molecular Photonics/Laser Physics
  • Space/Atmospheric Physics.