Measurements of the Diffuse Ultraviolet Background and the Terrestrial Airglow with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph

Details Measurements of the Diffuse Ultraviolet Background and the Terrestrial Airglow with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph Measurements of the Diffuse Ultraviolet Background and the Terrestrial Airglow with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph

2000-04-11

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0004147v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

7 pages, Latex. 4 figures. Uses corrected version of emulateapj.sty and apjfonts.sty (included). Accepted for publication in A

Scientific paper

10.1086/301468

Far-UV observations in and near the Hubble Deep Fields demonstrate that the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) can potentially obtain unique and precise measurements of the diffuse far-ultraviolet background. Although STIS is not the ideal instrument for such measurements, high-resolution images allow Galactic and extragalactic objects to be masked to very faint magnitudes, thus ensuring a measurement of the truly diffuse UV signal. The programs we have analyzed were not designed for this scientific purpose, but would be sufficient to obtain a very sensitive measurement if it were not for a weak but larger-than-expected signal from airglow in the STIS 1450-1900 A bandpass. Our analysis shows that STIS far-UV crystal quartz observations taken near the limb during orbital day can detect a faint airglow signal, most likely from NI\1493, that is comparable to the dark rate and inseparable from the far-UV background. Discarding all but the night data from these datasets gives a diffuse far-ultraviolet background measurement of 501 +/- 103 ph/cm2/sec/ster/A, along a line of sight with very low Galactic neutral hydrogen column (N_HI = 1.5E20 cm-2) and extinction (E(B-V)=0.01 mag). This result is in good agreement with earlier measurements of the far-UV background, and should not include any significant contribution from airglow. We present our findings as a warning to other groups who may use the STIS far-UV camera to observe faint extended targets, and to demonstrate how this measurement may be properly obtained with STIS.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Measurements of the Diffuse Ultraviolet Background and the Terrestrial Airglow with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Measurements of the Diffuse Ultraviolet Background and the Terrestrial Airglow with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Measurements of the Diffuse Ultraviolet Background and the Terrestrial Airglow with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-265960