The ultraviolet dayglow at solar maximum: 2. Photometer observations of N2 second positive (0, 0) band emission

Abstract
The N2 second positive, C³ΠuB³Πg, (0, 0) band dayglow emission at 3371 Å was observed during solar maximum with a rocket‐borne filter photometer, simultaneously with spectrometer observations of the far ultraviolet N2 and O dayglow spectrum. Modeling of the near ultraviolet dayglow spectrum indicates that the instrument also detected the N2 Vegard‐Kaplan, A³Σu+X¹Σg+, (0, 9) band. A spectral synthesis of these bands is used to derive emission intensities. The intensities are combined with the results of the analysis of the far UV observations reported by Meier et al. (this issue) to determine the topside neutral temperature and photoelectron flux. The effects of varying the reaction coefficient k0 for quenching of the υ′ = 0 level of the N2 A³Σu+ state are discussed. For k0 = 2.4×10−11 the derived g factor for C³Πu production is 4.4×10−8 s−1 at an altitude of 290 km, whereas for k0 = 2×10−10 it is 5.4×10−8 s−1. A synthetic spectrum of these two band systems in the wavelength region between 3000 and 4000 Å is presented.