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E.B. Burgh, S.R. McCandliss, P.D. Feldman (JHU)
We present the preliminary results from a NASA/JHU sounding rocket mission (36.186 UG), launched on 11 February 2000 at 20:27 MST, to obtain a long slit (200\arcsec~\times~12\arcsec) spectrum of the bright reflection nebula NGC 2023 in the 900 -- 1400 Å\ wavelength region. Multiple pointings within the nebula were obtained, including a high quality (S/N \approx 10) spectrum of the central star, HD 37903, which clearly shows absorption from molecular hydrogen (H2). These pointings provide for the determination of the far-UV radial dust scattering profile from 5\arcsec\ to ~70\arcsec\ and can be used to derive the wavelength-dependent dust scattering and absorption properties. In one pointing, an excess of flux above that expected from a radially symmetric scattering profile observed at the location of infrared H2 fluorescent emission suggests the detection of the associated far-UV fluorescence.
These observations were supported by NASA grant NAG5-5122 to the Johns Hopkins University.