Air glow is a term for light emmited from the upper layers of the atmosphere of Earth, or of another planet. The glow is gennerally bluish in color. Atmosphere is the general name for a layer of gases that may surround a material body of sufficient mass. ... Earth, also known as the Earth, Terra, and (mostly in the 19th century) Tellus, is the third planet outward from the Sun. ... A planet in common parlance is a large object in orbit around a star that is not a star itself. ...

One mechanism that produces air glow occurs when an atom of nitrogen combines with an atom of oxygen to form a molecule of nitric oxide (NO). In the process a photon is emmited. This photon may have any of several different wavelengths characteristic of nitric oxide molecules. The free atoms are available for this process because molecues of nitrogen (N₂) and oxygen (O₂) are dissociated by solar energy in the upper reaches of the atomosphere, and may encounter each other to form NO. General Name, Symbol, Number nitrogen, N, 7 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 15, 2, p Appearance colorless Atomic mass 14. ... General Name, Symbol, Number oxygen, O, 8 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 16, 2, p Appearance colorless Atomic mass 15. ... The chemical compound nitric oxide is a gas with chemical formula NO. It is an important signaling molecule in the body of mammals including humans, one of the few gaseous signaling molecules known. ... For the Science Fiction weapon, as seen in Star Trek, see Photon torpedo. ...

External links

• Night-side Glow Detected at Mars Space.com interview
• [http://www.hipas.alaska.edu/hipasweb/air_glow.htm Stereoscopic Observations of HAARP Glows

from HIPAS, Poker Flat, and Nenana, Alaska by R.F. Wuerker et Al.]

• An improved signal-to-noise ratio of a cool imaging photon detector for Fabry - Perot interferometer measurements of low-intensity air glow by T P Davies and P L Dyson
• Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph Instrument Handbook for Cycle 13