Spectroscopic Measurements of Natural and Artificial Light Sources
Abstract
<p>A twenty-night field investigation at the site where reportedly
Marfa lights have most been observed was conducted. We made
considerable progress in developing a technique to identify false
positives and to estimate their distance based on the absorption of
molecular oxygen at 762 nm band using the spectroscopic data alone
(Stephan, Ghimire, Stapleton, & Bunnell, 2009). Spectroscopic
studies of a type of glow discharge supported by natural porous
rock which covers relatively wide area of the rock, up to 2 cm in
diameter, are presented. The rotational, translational and
vibrational temperatures of the discharge are measured by comparing
modeled optical emission spectra with spectroscopic measurements
from the discharge. Finally, an absolute calibration technique for
our spectroscopic system is presented.</p>
