A high resolution UV spectrograph for sounding rocket measurement of planetary emission line profiles

We have constructed a high resolution imaging spectrograph for use as a payload in a sounding rocket experiment. The spectrograph employs a modified Ebert-Fastie design using a LiF predispersing prism and a replica of the E1 echelle grating developed for the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. The spectrograph is used as a focal plane instrument of the Jupiter Telescope, a Cassegrain telescope constructed exclusively for use as a sounding rocket payload. The telescope and spectrograph were launched from the White Sands Missile Range on May 4, 1991 to observe the H Ly-alpha line profile spatially resolved across the disk of Jupiter in the north-south and east-west directions, and to measure the H Ly-alpha emission line profile from interplanetary hydrogen associated with the local interstellar medium.