High resolution spectrography of hydroxyl in the night airglow

A new type of airglow spectrograph has been used to observe the spectrum of the night airglow. It has proved possible to resolve the 5-0, 6-1, 7-1, 8-2, 9-2 and 9-3 bands of OH into individual lines with a dispersion of 0.45 Å per pixel (corresponding to a resolving power of approximately 5000-10,000) and to measure their individual wavelengths to an accuracy of between 0.1 Å and 0.2 Å. The methods used for data reduction are described and comparisons with theory and previous observations are given. Copyright © 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.