NSSDCA ID: 1973-027A-08
Mission Name: SkylabThe Skylab experiment S063 was flown to provide data for several studies: photography of airglow, ozone, aurora, and Comet Kohoutek. The objective of the airglow investigation was to study the altitude and intensity variations of some airglow emissions by means of photography from the spacecraft. The method of acquiring the data was to obtain 35-mm photographs through filters at wavelengths of 2500, 3914, 5577, and 6300 A. The ozone effort involved investigating a method for acquiring measurements of the changing patterns of ozone concentration using photography. The procedure used was to obtain three photographs of a given area beneath the spacecraft. One photograph was exposed through a filter that transmitted radiation within the ozone absorption band, the second photograph was obtained through a filter transmitting just beyond the long wavelength end of the ozone band, and the third photograph was in color of the same observed area. A measure of the relative ozone might be obtained by subtraction, picture element by picture element, of the combined data of the two photographs outside the ozone band from that of the "ozone" data. Mounted at a window in the antisolar scientific airlock, the camera obtained "ozone" data during daylight when it could view the earth at nadir. The auroral study required photographing aurorae in profile from above the lower atmosphere and obtaining vertical cross-sections of aurorae with the spatial distribution of emissions from atmospheric constituents delineated by color. The Comet Kohoutek effort had the objective of obtaining a time sequence of exposures of the comet as it approached and receded from the sun. In addition to the camera and filter system of this experiment, several filters were borrowed from experiment T025 in both the UV and visible spectral range. Additional details, including flight performance, can be found in the report, "Skylab Experiment S063 U.V. Airglow Horizon Photography," D. M. Packer and I. G. Packer, NRL Memorandum Report No. 3381, October 1976. Also see D. M. Packer and I. G. Packer, App. Opt., v. 16, p. 983, 1977.
Questions and comments about this experiment can be directed to: Coordinated Request and User Support Office
Name | Role | Original Affiliation | |
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Dr. D. M. Packer | Principal Investigator | US Naval Research Laboratory |