Abstract
THE spectrum of the zodiacal light was photographed by Fath,1 who found that it showed the Fraunhofer line G and a blend of H and K lines, and did not show indication of any bright line. He concluded that zodiacal light is reflected sunlight. I have recently obtained photographs of the spectrum of zodiacal light on very clear nights at Poona (lat. 18° 31′ N.) with an F/l.5 glass spectrograph constructed locally (with the kind assistance of Mr. S. P. Venkateswaran). Using Mimosa extreme orthochromatic plates (H and D for light from half-watt lamp 2600), which I have found to be the most rapid for this work, the spectrograph is sufficiently powerful to bring out the night sky line 5577 A. in one hour's exposure with a slit-width of 0.7 mm.
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References
Fath, Lick Obs. Bull., 5, 141; 1909
Hulburt, Phys. Rev., 35, 1098; 1930.
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RAMANATHAN, K. The Zodiacal Light and the Luminosity of the Night Sky. Nature 129, 280 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/129280a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/129280a0
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