The Venus nightglow: Ground-based observations and chemical mechanisms

In 1999, observations of the Venus nightglow with the Keck I telescope showed that the 5577 Å oxygen green line was a significant feature, comparable in intensity to the terrestrial green line. Subsequent measurements have been carried out at the Apache Point Observatory (APO) and again at Keck I, confirming the presence of the line with substantially varying intensity. The Herzberg II emission intensity, from the O ₂( c-X) transition, was found to have an intensity near 3 kR in one APO run, comparable to the value found on all previous measurements. Thus, of the three oxygen features seen at Venus—the green line, the Herzberg II emission system, and the 1.27-μ 0-0 band of the IR atmospheric system—the first is quite variable, the second is relatively constant, while the third also shows large variations. The reaction between O ₂( cΣu-, v=0) and CO is considered as a possible mechanism to explain green line production and its variability, as well as the variability of the 1.27-μ emission and the stability of the CO ₂ atmosphere. This reaction may catalyze CO ₂ recombination some five orders of magnitude faster than the slow three-body O + CO reaction.