Abstract We report measurements of gamma ray lines from the Earth's atmosphere observed by the gamma ray spectrometer on the Solar Maximum Mission satellite. The data are summed over 3.5 years and have excellent statistical accuracy. 20 line features within the range 0.3 to 8 MeV have been observed. Line intensities are consistent with models attributing them to neutron absorption by nitrogen and oxygen. The relative intensity of scattered radiation from the 0.511 MeV line suggests production at an average atmospheric depth of 21 g/cm2. These data allow a detailed comparison of gamma ray production models with experiment in a medium with known composition, geometry, and irradiation level and therefore serve as a good test subject for models of astrophysical gamma ray line sources.


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    Title :

    Measurement of gamma-ray line intensities from the earth's atmosphere


    Contributors:
    Letaw, J.R. (author) / Share, G.H. (author) / Kinzer, R.L. (author) / Silberberg, R. (author) / Chupp, E.L. (author) / Forrest, D.J. (author) / Riegert, E. (author)

    Published in:

    Publication date :

    1986-01-01


    Size :

    5 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



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