Measurements of the UV Nocturnal Atmospheric Background in the 300-400 nm Wavelength Band with the Experiment BaBy during a Transmediterranean Balloon Flight
Abstract
We present new results of U V no cturnal atmospheric background measured with the balloon borne experiment BaBy that performed a trans-Mediterranean flight on July 11 2002. The experiment looked downwards from about 40 km of altitude the dark no cturnal atmosphere over the sea in a moonless night. It is composed of 8 filtered and collimated fast PMTs detecting the U V light in the 300-400 nm wavelength band and in the 3 narrow bands centered at the emission lines of the atmospheric Nitrogen molecules. Both single photon counting and charge integration methods are used in pairs of PMTs with the same filter. The background measured over the sea is about 300 photons m-2 sr-1 ns-1 in the 300-400 nm wavelength band. Introduction The Backround Bypass, BaBy, experiment is a scientific support activity to the evaluation of the sensitivity of EUSO [3], devoted to the observation of the Extreme Energy Cosmic Rays from space by detecting U V fluorescence light. One of the fundamental information in EUSO design is the U V no cturnal atmospheric background level whose main sources are: light pollution from cities, planes and ships, naturally occurring bioluminescence, lightning flashes, reflected moonlight and starlight, auroral flashes, low energy cosmic ray air showers and atmospheric chemical reactions. Since 1998, no cturnal atmospheric U V background measurements, in the wavelength interval (300-400 nm) relevant for EUSO, have been performed by
- Publication:
-
International Cosmic Ray Conference
- Pub Date:
- July 2003
- Bibcode:
- 2003ICRC....2..849G