Atmospheric emission measurements with a balloon-borne michelson interferometer.

Astronomical measurements at mid- and far-infrared wavelengths can be made by using aircraft or balloons to carry telescopes above the strongly absorbing lower atmosphere. To measure the atmospheric background radiation present at these altitudes, a Michelson interferometer has been built and flown to a height of 38 km on a balloon. This paper describes the instrument and the methods of data reduction and calibration, and presents initial spectra in the range 100-1000 cm(-1) (10-100 micro) obtained to a mean resolution of 34 cm(-1) during flight.