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K. H. Hinkle, L. Wallace (NOAO), W. Livingston (NSO)
The transmission spectrum of the Earth's atmosphere over Kitt Peak from 0.5 to 5.5 microns has been derived from solar spectra taken with the N.S.O. McMath Fourier Transform Spectrometer. The spectrum is presented as a poster, copies of which are available from the author. The telluric spectrum is shown in absorption against a normalized continuum. The data are on the NOAO web site at ftp://ftp.noao.edu/catalogs/atmospheric_transmission/. The data are at high resolution (about 1 km s-1). However, in the plotted version the dispersion is very low so individual spectral lines are show as sharp unresolved lines. The major molecular bands are identified on the poster. The data are produced from ratios of solar spectra taken at different airmasses. For those atmospheric lines that are opaque there is no information in the line cores which results in gaps in the data. The ratioing process cancels much of the solar spectrum but residual features of strong lines can be detected. These result from differing Doppler shifts between the solar observations.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 35#5
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.