Auroral spectrum between 1200 and 4000 angstroms

Spectroscopic observations of an auroral event were made simultaneously by airborne and satellite-borne scanning spectrometers, in the wavelength region between 1200 and 4000 A. Photon emission rates of several vibrational bands of the N2, 2nd positive, Vegard-Kaplan, and Lyman-Birge-Hopfield systems, the N I lines at 1200 A and 3466 A, and O I lines at 1304 A, 1356 A, and 2972 A were recorded. Model calculations of the emission rates of the observed features are found to be in reasonable agreement with the measurements. Electron impact excites the nitrogen band systems, as well as the OI 1356-A line. A spectral feature at 2150 A is tentatively identified as the (1, 0) gamma band of NO.