Xref: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu sci.astro:35223 sci.space:61404 Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news.harvard.edu!noc.near.net!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!ames!pan.arc.nasa.gov!moses From: moses@pan.arc.nasa.gov (julie moses) Subject: Re: temperature of the dark sky Message-ID: <1993Apr28.185206.3501@news.arc.nasa.gov> Sender: usenet@news.arc.nasa.gov Organization: NASA-Ames Research Center References: <1993Apr28.002214.16544@Princeton.EDU> Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1993 18:52:06 GMT Lines: 29 >> Does anyone have a reference (something I can look up, not just your own >> recollections -- I have a few of those myself) on the temperature of the >> (night) sky as seen from space? >> >> Note, I am *not* talking about the temperature of the Microwave Background >> Radiation. There are more things in the sky than just the MBR; what I'm >> after is total blackbody temperature -- what a thermal radiator would see, >> disregarding (or shielding against) the Sun and nearby large warm objects. > > I'm not sure if this will help you, but the (local) interstellar radiation field has been measured and modeled by various groups. If I remember things correctly, the models involved contributions from three different BB sources, so there's no obvious "temperature" of background radiation in our local area. However, the following references give the interstellar radiation density as a function of wavelength, and you can integrate and average in an appropriate manner to get an "effective" temperature if you like: Witt and Johnson (1973) Astrophys. J. 181, 363 - 368 Henry et al. (1980) Astrophys. J. 239, 859 - 866 Mathis et al. (1983) Astron. Astrophys. 128, 212 - 229 As you can see, the references are out of date, but they might get you started. Hope this helps, Julie