Surface Photometry of Celestial Sources from a Space Vehicle: Introduction and Observational Procedures*

  1. Franklin E. Roach†,†,
  2. Benjamin Carroll‡,
  3. Lawrence H. Aller§, and
  4. Leroi Smith
  1. †Department of Chemistry, Rutgers University, Newark, N.J. 07102
  2. §Department of Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, Calif. 90024
  3. †Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories, Richland, Washington 99352

Abstract

Diffuse celestial sources of relatively low surface brightness such as the Milky Way, zodiacal light, and gegenschein (or contre lumière) can be studied most reliably from above the earth's atmosphere with equipment flown in artificial satellites. We review the techniques used and some of the difficulties encountered in day-time observations from satellites by the use of a special photometer and polarimeter flown in the orbiting skylab observatory, OSO-6.

Footnotes

  • ↵ * This is paper no. 1 in a series: “Surface Photometry of Celestial Sources from a Space Vehicle.”

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  1. PNAS March 1, 1972 vol. 69 no. 3 694-697
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