Spectral Signature Of The Earths Night Airglow Observed From The Space Shuttle

Download or read book Spectral Signature of the Earth's Night Airglow Observed from the Space Shuttle written by Paul J Bellaire (Jr) and published by . This book was released on 1997-07-01 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: GLO was designed at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory of the University of Arizona to observe auroral and airglow emissions, and recorded midlatitude airglow data near equinox during Space Shuttle mission STS-69 in September 1995. GLO observations from the shuttle recorded the night airglow layer seen edge on at the Earth's limb. These observations from orbit exhibit a fundamentally different picture of the night airglow compared to observations from the ground. GLO data also represent the first simultaneous optical measurements of airglow emissions over the spectral range from 1150 to 9000 A, showing global emission variations in the night sky. Intensity variations are not correlated among emitting species, implying greater dynamism and more complex chemical interactions in the airglow than previously assumed. Although other researchers have described observations of organized waves and tides in the night airglow, these prior observations are sporadic or averaged over long time periods. The night sky intensity variations recorded by GLO do not exhibit any obvious relationship to atmospheric tides.