Observations of the Helium II 304-A and Helium I 584-A atmospheric dayglow radiation.

Two photometers with bandpasses of 170 to 500 and 170 to 800 A were employed to observe dayglow emissions in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) over an altitude range of 90 to 186 km. The emissions observed with these photometers are identified as resonantly scattered He I 584-A and He II 304-A radiations. At 186 km, 209 plus or minus 70 rayleighs of 584-A and 9.3 plus or minus 3.1 rayleighs of 304-A radiation were measured. These observations are compared with theoretical calculations of resonance scattering of solar emissions from geocoronal He and He(+). Using the Jacchia (1971) atmospheric model for He, it is found that the observed brightness of the 584-A emission requires that the solar 584-A line width be 0.014 plus or minus 0.004 A. In this model the maximum overhead brightness of 584-A dayglow would occur at 900 km, and its magnitude would be 1.9 plus or minus 0.6 kR. The authors' observation of 304-A brightness requires that the overhead column density of the He(+) ions be 4.2 x 10 to the 11th ions/sq cm column. This value is consistent with a constant-density plasmasphere model with a He(+) ion density of 320 ions/cu cm in the plasmasphere.