A new solar irradiance calibration from 3295 A to 8500 A derived from absolute spectrophotometry of Vega

By imaging sunlight diffracted by 20- and 30-micron diameter pinholes onto the entrance aperture of a photoelectric grating scanner, the solar spectral irradiance was determined relative to the spectrophotometric standard star Vega, observed at night with the same instrument. Solar irradiances are tabulated at 4 A increments from 3295 A to 8500 A. Over most of the visible spectrum, the internal error of measurement is less than 2 percent. This calibration is compared with earlier irradiance measurements by Neckel and Labs (1984) and by Arvesen et al. (1969) and with the high-resolution solar atlas by Kurucz et al. The three calibrations agree well in visible light but differ by as much as 10 percent in the ultraviolet.