O₂(¹DELTA ) emission in the day and night airglow of Venus. (original) (raw)

NASA/ADS

;

• Noxon, J. F. ;
• Traub, W. A. ;
• Carleton, N. P.

Abstract

An intense airglow from O2(1 Delta) at 1.27 microns on both the light and the dark sides of Venus has been detected by using a ground-based high-resolution Fourier-transform spectrometer. Both dayglow and nightglow are roughly 1,000 times brighter than the visible O2 nightglow found by Veneras 9 and 10 in 1975. The column emission rate of O2(1 Delta) from Venus is close to the rate at which fresh O atoms are produced from photolysis of CO2 on the day side. Formation of O2(1 Delta) is thus a major step in the removal of O atoms from the atmosphere, and dynamical processes must carry these atoms to the night side fast enough to yield a maximum density near 90 km, which is almost constant over the planet.

Publication:

The Astrophysical Journal

Pub Date:

October 1979

DOI:

10.1086/183070

Bibcode:

1979ApJ...233L..29C

Keywords:

• Dayglow;
• Infrared Spectrometers;
• Nightglow;
• Oxygen Spectra;
• Venus Atmosphere;
• Fourier Transformation;
• High Resolution;
• Oxygen Atoms;
• Photolysis;
• Spectral Emission;
• Venera 9 Satellite;
• VENUS;
• AIRGLOW;
• EMISSIONS;
• EARTH BASED OBSERVATIONS;
• SPECTROMETER;
• DAYGLOW;
• NIGHTGLOW;
• OXYGEN;
• PHOTOLYSIS;
• ATMOSPHERE;
• DYNAMICS;
• INFRARED;
• INTENSITY;
• PLANETS;
• SPECTRUM;
• TEMPERATURES;
• BRIGHTNESS;
• REFLECTIVITY;
• MODELS;
• QUENCHING;
• TRANSPORT;
• Lunar and Planetary Exploration; Venus;
• Airglow:Venus Atmosphere;
• Infrared Spectra:Venus Atmosphere