The atmospheric nightglow in the 300-400 nm wavelength - Results by the balloon-borne experiment "BABY"

O. Catalano, G. Agnetta, B. Biondo, F. Celi, R. Di Raffaele, S. Giarrusso, J. Linsley, G. La Rosa, A. Lo Bue, A. Mangano, F. Russo

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The balloon-borne experiment, named BAckground BYpass (BABY) belongs to a wider program that has as its final goal the detection and study of high-energy cosmic rays from space (satellite, Space Station). An information of fundamental importance for this class of projects concerns the nighttime background light. The instrument designed to detect fluorescence photons is basically composed of two collimated photomultipliers: a single photon-counting PMT and a charge integration PMT. We briefly report the details of the design, operation and performance of the detector, which was designed and completely built at the IFCAI-CNR Institute in Palermo. Preliminary analysis and results of the nocturnal background in the range of 300-400 nm are presented for the whole duration of the flight during the 1998 Mediterranean balloon flight campaign. A substantial part of the flight was at night over the sea.

Original languageEnglish
Article number41077
Pages (from-to)547-554
Number of pages8
JournalNuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Volume480
Issue number2-3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2002
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Extensive air shower
  • Extreme energy cosmic ray
  • Nightglow
  • UV fluorescence light

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