A New Method for Producing the Auroral Afterglow of Nitrogen and Its Spectrum

A new method for producing the auroral afterglow has been devised. No pre-operation of the afterglow tube is required and the afterglow is much stronger than that produced by Kaplan’s method.The spectrum of the auroral afterglow is analyzed. In the first-positive system, the vibrational levels of the upper state were extended to v = 26 and for the lower state to v = 20. In the second-positive system, new bands were observed which have been tentatively ascribed to a transition from v′ = 5. It was determined that the Goldstein-Kaplan bands belong to a single system, the 3Π − B3Πg. Three heads were measured for each band of the G-K system. The Vegard-Kaplan bands and the first-negative system were also observed and are reported on.The lifetime of the auroral afterglow and the excitation processes for the afterglow are discussed.