Abstract

The design of a field-of-view-widened interferometer for airglow survey work is discussed, and some preliminary airglow results are presented. The 4.5-cm aperture optics of the interferometer give a very large throughput gain compared with a conventional slit spectrometer. In addition, by using optical wedge compensators, the field of view is widened to over 5° full angle, resulting in a field-widened throughput gain of approximately 100 compared with a standard Michelson interferometer of the same aperture size. Digital recording is used to achieve sufficient dynamic range and to aid in computation of the fast fourier transforms. A series of airglow spectra of the midlatitude sky in the spectral region from 0.6 μ to 0.9 μ down to a resolution of about 2 Å are given for a sunset transition and also at night. Bright features are the vibration-rotation hydroxyl emission bands and the oxygen red lines. Particularly interesting are enhancement of these emissions during twilight and the observation of what may be vibrationally excited O₂ in the lower atmosphere.

© 1971 Optical Society of America

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