Distribution of the night airglow (OI) 5577A and Na D layer measured from a rocket

Photometers to measure the distribution in altitude of the λ 5577 line of OI, the sodium D-lines, and the continuum near λ 5300 were flown in an Aerobee rocket at the White Sands Proving Ground, New Mexico, on December 12,1955, at 10:00 p.m. MST. Though the photometers were extremely simple and lacked in-flight calibration and other refinements, definitive results were obtained. The photometers and installation in the rocket were basically the same those described in the accompanying communication by Berg, et al. The differences were as follows: (1) Narrow band-pass multilayer filters were used, having bandwidths of 20A at half maximum, thus reducing the magnitude of the correction for the included “continuum.” (2) A third photometer was flown to measure the sodium D-lines. (3) The bakground “continuum” was measured at λ 5300, rather than λ 5200.