SRI International

Telescope Studies of Terrestrial and Planetary Nightglows

Atmospheric scientists at SRI International have found a gold mine in sky spectra taken at the W. M. Keck I telescope using the HIRES echelle spectrograph. Don Osterbrock (Lick Observatory) had identified numerous atmospheric emission lines of the hydroxyl radical (OH) and oxygen molecule (O2). From collaborating Keck astronomers, he collected about 200 hours of sky spectra, producing the best available survey of optical emissions in the Earth's night airglow. Click Here for a descriptive review.

The Keck/HIRES spectra have important implications both for understanding atmospheric processes and for dealing with near-earth night sky emissions that interfere with astronomical observations. Included are improved spectroscopy for O2, OH, and some atomic transitions; vibrational and rotational distributions of emissions from the Earth night airglow; and the surprising observation of strong emissions from atomic neon, argon, and xenon.

O2 emissions are also known in the night airglow of Venus. In collaboration with Tom Bida (then at Keck, now at Lowell Observatory), the first high-resolution visible spectrum of the night sky of Venus was taken at Keck in November 1999. The O2 emissions reported by the Venera 9/10 orbiters were confirmed. However, the strongest emission is the atomic oxygen green line at 558 nm, which was not present in the Venera spectra, but should have been conspicuous. Follow up observations have been made at Apache Point Observatory, in collaboration with Nancy J. Chanover, New Mexico State University, and at the Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF), in collaboration with David Crisp, Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Click Here for a beautiful picture of Venus.

Publications

  1. D. E. Osterbrock, J. P. Fulbright, A. R. Martel, M. J. Keane, S. C. Trager, and G. Basri, "Night-Sky High-Resolution Spectral Atlas of OH and O2 Emission Lines for Echelle Spectrograph Wavelength Calibration," Pub. Astron. Soc. Pacific 108, 277-308 (1996).
  2. T. G. Slanger, D. L. Huestis, D. E. Osterbrock, and J. P. Fulbright, "The Isotopic Oxygen Nightglow as Viewed from Mauna Kea," Science 277, 1485-1488 (1997).
  3. D. E. Osterbrock, J. P. Fulbright, P. C. Cosby, and T. A. Barlow, "Faint OH(v'=10), 17OH, and 18OH Emission Lines in the Spectrum of the Nightglow," Pub. Astron. Soc. Pacific, 110, 1499-1510 (1998).
  4. T. G. Slanger and D. E. Osterbrock, "Aeronomy-Astronomy Collaboration Focuses on Nighttime Terrestrial Atmosphere," EOS Trans. Am. Geophys. Union 79, 149,150,158 (1998).
  5. D. E. Osterbrock, R. Waters, T. A. Barlow, T. G. Slanger, and P. C. Cosby, "Faint Emission Lines in the Blue and Red Spectral Regions of the Night Airglow," Pub. Astron. Soc. Pacific, 112, 733-741 (2000).
  6. T. G. Slanger and D. E. Osterbrock, "Investigations of Potassium, Lithium, and Sodium Emission in the Nightglow and OH Cross Calibration," J. Geophys. Res. 105(D1), 1425-1429 (2000).
  7. T. G. Slanger, P. C. Cosby, D. L. Huestis, and D. E. Osterbrock, "Vibrational Level Distribution of O2(b1Sigmag+, v=0-15) in the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere Region," J. Geophys. Res. 105(D16), 20,557-20,564 (2000).
  8. T. G. Slanger, D. L. Huestis, P. C. Cosby, and D. E. Osterbrock, "Accurate Atomic Line Wavelengths from Astronomical Sky Spectra," J. Chem. Phys. 113, 8514-8520 (2000).
  9. T. G. Slanger, P. C. Cosby, D. L. Huestis, and T. A. Bida, "Discovery of the Atomic Oxygen Green Line in the Venus Night Airglow," Science 291, 463-465 (2001).

Conference and Workshop Presentations

  1. T. G. Slanger, H. Bloemink, R. A. Copeland, and D. E. Osterbrock, "Vibrationally Excited O2(b1Sigmag+): Laboratory Studies and Atmospheric Observations," 1997 Spring Meeting of the Am. Geophys. Union (Baltimore, MD, May 27-30, 1997) [Eos, Trans. AGU 78(17), S225 (1997)].
  2. D. L. Huestis, P. C. Cosby, T. G. Slanger, and D. E. Osterbrock, "Spectroscopy of the O2(b1Sigmag+ -  X3Sigmag-) Atmospheric Band System to v'=7," 52nd International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy (Columbus, OH, June-16-20, 1997).
  3. T. G. Slanger, D. L. Huestis, P. C. Cosby, D. E. Osterbrock, and J. P. Fulbright, "O2 Nightglow Emission at 600-800 nm as Measured by the HIRES Spectrograph on the W. M. Keck (I) Telescope," 1997 Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (San Francisco, CA, December 8-12, 1997) [Eos, Trans. AGU 78(46), F521-F522 (1997)].

  4. D. E. Osterbrock, J. P. Fulbright, T. A. Barlow, T. G. Slanger, D. L. Huestis, and P. C. Cosby, "Molecular Spectroscopy with the Biggest Night-Sky Spectrograph in the World," Am. Astronom. Soc., 191st Meeting (Washington, DC, January 6-10, 1998).
  5. T. G. Slanger, P. C. Cosby, D. L. Huestis, E. S. Hwang, H. I. Bloemink, R. A. Copeland, and D. E. Osterbrock, "The O2(b1Sigmag+) State - Nightglow Observations and Laboratory Kinetics," Laboratory Space Science Workshop (Cambridge, MA, April 1-3, 1998).
  6. T. G. Slanger, P. C. Cosby, D. L. Huestis, H. S. Hwang, H. I. Bloemink, R. A. Copeland, and D. E. Osterbrock, "The O2(b1Sigmag+) State - Nightglow Observations and Laboratory Kinetics," Informal Photochemistry Conference (Pasadena, CA, May 10-15, 1998).
  7. T. G. Slanger, P. C. Cosby, D. L. Huestis, D. E. Osterbrock, and J. P. Fulbright, "High-Resolution Study of New Terrestrial Nightglow Features--Beyond OH," 192nd Meeting of the Am. Astronom. Soc. (San Diego, CA, June 7-11, 1998) [Bull. AAS 30, 838 (1998)].
  8. D. L. Huestis, T. G. Slanger, J. P. Fulbright, and D. E. Osterbrock, "O2(b1Sigmag+), O(1D), and O2+ + e Recombination in the Lower Thermosphere," 51st Annual Gaseous Electronics Conference (Maui, HI, October 12-22, 1998) [Bull. Am. Phys. Soc. 43, 1422 (1998)].
  9. D. L. Huestis, T. G. Slanger, and D. E. Osterbrock, "'Dayglow' Features in the Nightglow From Keck/HIRES Sky Spectra," 1998 Fall Meeting of the Am. Geophys. Union (San Francisco, CA, December 6-10, 1998) [Eos, Trans. AGU 79(45), F667 (1998)].

  10. T. G. Slanger, "The Terrestrial Nightglow as viewed by the HIRES Echelle Spectrometer on the W. M. Keck 10-Meter Telescope," Pale Blue Dot II (NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, May 19-21, 1999).
  11. D. L. Huestis, T. G. Slanger, P. C. Cosby, D. E. Osterbrock, and R. Waters, "Atmospheric Atomic Emission in Keck/HIRES Night Sky Spectra," 194th Meeting of the Am. Astronom. Society (Chicago, IL, May 30-June 3, 1999) [Bull. AAS 31, 839 (1999)].
  12. T. G. Slanger, D. L. Huestis, P. C. Cosby, and D. E. Osterbrock, "New Aspects of Nightglow Spectroscopy Using Sky Spectra from the W. M. Keck I Telescope on Mauna Kea," 1999 Spring Meeting of the Am. Geophys. Union (Boston, MA, June 1-4, 1999) [Eos, Trans. AGU, 80(17), S248 (1999)].
  13. D. L. Huestis, P. C. Cosby, T. G. Slanger, and D. E. Osterbrock, "High Vibrational Levels and Potential Energy Curves for the O2 b1Sigmag+, a1Deltag, and X3Sigmag- States Derived from Atmospheric Nightglow Emissions," 54th International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy (Columbus, OH, June 14-18, 1999).
  14. A. J. Espy, T. G. Slanger, P. C. Cosby, D. L. Huestis, and D. E. Osterbrock, "Rotationally Resolved 400-600 nm O2 Chamberlain Emission in the Terrestrial Nightglow," 1999 Fall Meeting of the Am. Geophys. Union (San. Francisco, CA, December 13-17, 1999). [Eos, Trans. AGU, 80(46), F785 (1999)].
  15. T. G. Slanger, P. C. Cosby, D. L. Huestis, and D. E. Osterbrock, "Vibrational Distribution and Emission Intensities in the O2(b1Sigmag+ - X3Sigmag-) Atmospheric Band System in the MLT Region," 1999 Fall Meeting of the Am. Geophys. Union (San. Francisco, CA, December 13-17, 1999). [Eos, Trans. AGU, 80(46), F780 (1999)].

  16. T. G. Slanger, P. C. Cosby, D. L. Huestis, and D. E. Osterbrock, "Nightglow Studies with the World's Largest Telescope," European Geophysical Society XXV General Assembly (Nice, France, April 25-29, 2000).
  17. T. A. Bida, T. G. Slanger, and D. L. Huestis, "Measurement of the OI(5577) Green Line on Venus," 2000 Spring Meeting of the Am. Geophys. Union (Washington, DC, May 30 - June 3, 2000) [Eos, Trans. AGU, 81(19), S301 (2000)].
  18. T. G. Slanger, D. L. Huestis, P. C. Cosby, D. E. Osterbrock, and S. M. Melo, "Vibrational Energy Distribution of the O2(b1Sigmag+) State in the Mesosphere/Lower Thermospheric and its Possible Relationship to OH Meinel Emission," 2000 Spring Meeting of the Am. Geophys. Union (Washington, DC, May 30 - June 3, 2000) [Eos, Trans. AGU, 81(19), S326 (2000)].
  19. P. C. Cosby, T. G. Slanger, D. L. Huestis, and D. E. Osterbrock, "Term Energies, Line Positions, and Spectroscopic Constants for the OH Meinel Band System," 55th International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy (Columbus, OH, June 12-16, 2000).
  20. T. G. Slanger, "Airglow Observations and Their Scientific Yield: Earth and Venus," 2000 CEDAR Workshop (Boulder, CO, June 25-30, 2000).
  21. P. C. Cosby, T. G. Slanger, D. L. Huestis, and D. E. Osterbrock, "Mesospheric Temperatures Probed by Simultaneous Measurement of OH and O2 in the Nightglow," 2000 CEDAR Workshop (Boulder, CO, June 25-30, 2000).
  22. T. G. Slanger , P. C. Cosby, D. L. Huestis, and D. E. Osterbrock "New Data on the Terrestrial Nightglow, Using Sky Spectra from the Keck (I) Telescope," COSPAR Conference (Warsaw, Poland, July 17-21, 2000).
  23. T. G. Slanger, P. C. Cosby, D. L. Huestis, A. J. Espy, and D. E. Osterbrock, "Atomic and Molecular Spectroscopic Data from Keck Sky Spectra," International Astronomical Union 24th General Assembly (Manchester, UK, August 7-11, 2000).
  24. T. G. Slanger, D. L. Huestis, P. C. Cosby, and T. A. Bida, "Using the Keck (I) Telescope on Mauna Kea to Study Terrestrial and Planetary Nightglows," Optical Aeronomy Conference (Stockholm, Sweden, August 21-25, 2000).
  25. T. G. Slanger, and D. L. Huestis, P. C. Cosby, and T. A. Bida, "First Observation of the 5577 A Oxygen Green Line in the Night Airglow of Venus," 32nd Annual Meeting of the AAS Division for Planetary Science (Pasadena, CA, 23-27 October 2000) [Bull. AAS 32(2), 1120 (2000)].
  26. T. G. Slanger, P. C. Cosby, D. L. Huestis, and D. E. Osterbrock, "Observation of Atomic Neon Emission Lines in Sky Spectra Obtained with the Keck/HIRES System on Mauna Kea; Light Pollution or Nightglow?" 2000 Fall Meeting of the Am. Geophys. Union (San Francisco, CA, 15-19 December 2000) [Eos, Trans. AGU 81, F929 (2000)].

  27. P. C. Cosby, D. L. Huestis, and T. G. Slanger, "Neon Line Emission Observed in Keck/HIRES Sky Spectra," 197th Meeting of the Am. Astronom. Soc. (San Diego, CA, 7-11 January 2001) [Bull. AAS 32, 1598 (2001)].
  28. T. G. Slanger, D. L. Huestis, and P. C. Cosby, "Sodium D2/D1 Ratio in the Terrestrial Nightglow, from Keck/HIRES Sky Spectra," 197th Meeting of the Am. Astronom. Soc. (San Diego, CA, 7-11 January 2001) [Bull. AAS 32, 1599 (2001)].
  29. D. L. Huestis, P. C. Cosby, and T. G. Slanger, "National Virtual Aeronomical Observatory (NVAO)," 197th Meeting of the Am. Astronom. Soc. (San Diego, CA, 7-11 January 2001).
  30. D. L. Huestis, P. C. Cosby, and T. G. Slanger, "National Virtual Aeronomical Observatory (NVAO)," 2001 Spring Meeting of the Am. Geophys. Union (Boston, MA, May 29-June 2, 2001) [Eos, Trans. AGU 82, S281 (2001)].
  31. T. G. Slanger, D. L. Huestis, and P. C. Cosby, "Oxygen Atom Rydberg Emissions at 394-927 nm in the Nightglow, as Measured near Solar Maximum at Mauna Kea," 2001 Spring Meeting of the Am. Geophys. Union (Boston, MA, May 29-June 2, 2001) [Eos, Trans. AGU 82, S285 (2001)].
  32. T. G. Slanger, D. L. Huestis, and P. C. Cosby, "The Terrestrial Atmosphere at Solar Max: Lessons for Astronomy," 198th Meeting of the Am. Astronom. Soc. (Pasadena, CA, 4-7 June 2001) [Bull. AAS 33, 893-894 (2001)].
  33. T. G. Slanger, D. L. Huestis, and P. C. Cosby, "Oxygen Atom Rydberg Emissions at 394-927 nm in the Nightglow, as Measured near Solar Maximum at Mauna Kea," 2001 CEDAR Workshop and SCOSTEP STP-10 Symposium (Longmont, CO, 17-22 June 2001).

Venus Nightglow Press Releases and Articles

Principal Investigators and Collaborators

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