Apollo 16 far ultraviolet imagery of the polar auroras, tropical airglow belts, and general airglow

Far ultraviolet imagery of the earth in the 1050- to 1600-Åand 1250- to 1600-Å wavelength ranges was obtained from the lunar surface during the Apollo 16 mission on April 21, 1972. The images have an angular resolution of about 2 arc min (230-km linear resolution) and have been quantitatively analyzed to obtain absolute intensities and spatial distributions of the polar auroras (both wavelength ranges) and of the day and night airglow and tropical airglow belts (1250- to 1600-Å wavelength range). The observations are consistent with previous results obtained from the Ogo 4 spacecraft, but in addition, they have provided new details on the spatial distributions of the various emissions over an entire hemisphere at a single time. A general night airglow, at least in the northern hemisphere, is indicated.