Nightglowe: OH Airglow
Cosmology & the Sky arc, page 164 of 193. Back to The Pixelated Physics Universe
Who they are
Nightglowe has one line, and says it often: “Even the dark sky glows.”
Nightglowe is a character of the Cosmology & the Sky arc: drawn in pixels, ruled by one piece of real physics, and never allowed to break it.
The physics
OH airglow (Meinel bands) dominates the near-infrared night-sky background.
$$ \begin{gathered} \text{H} + \text{O}_3 \to \text{OH}(v \le 9) + \text{O}_2 \\ \text{OH}(v') \to \text{OH}(v'') + h\nu \end{gathered} $$
| Symbol | Meaning | SI unit |
|---|---|---|
| $v$ | vibrational quantum number of OH | — |
| $h$ | Planck constant | J·s |
| $\nu$ | photon frequency | Hz |
Sources
Crossovers
Nightglowe meets Sanguora (Forbidden [O I] 630.0 nm Red Aurora Line). Sanguora's red glow appears high in the aurora. Nightglowe's OH airglow glows every night, aurora or not, and brightens the near-infrared sky.
Nightglowe meets Backglowen (CCD Sky Background Noise). Backglowen's sky background noise is partly Nightglowe's OH airglow, which dominates the near-infrared night sky.
Nightglowe meets Sulphra ([S II] 671.6/673.1 nm Density Doublet). Sulphra's red doublet and Nightglowe's airglow are both faint emission lines that observers must know by wavelength. One maps the density of a distant nebula; the other is foreground glow from our own upper atmosphere.
Wear the lore
Concept keywords: OH Airglow, Nightglowe, Cosmology & the Sky, physics lore, Pixelated Physics