A first look at the ASSI ultraviolet results

The Airglow and Solar Spectrometer Instrument (ASSI) on the San Marco D satellite has obtained near-simultaneous measurements of solar irradiances and airglow emissions in the 200-7000 A spectral region. The satellite was placed in an equatorial, elliptical orbit on 25 March 1988, which permitted observations of airglow emissions in the 280-600-km altitude range at various local times. The instrument complement on the satellite provides an opportunity both for self-consistent examination of the excitation mechanisms of various airglow features and for constraining model parameters. An overview of the data obtained by ASSI is presented along with preliminary modeling results of the UV airglow.