Observations of Atmospheric Helium and Oxygen With SPHEREx

Abstract

Abstract We present measurements of near‐infrared (NIR) terrestrial airglow produced by helium and oxygen in the exosphere as observed by the Spectro‐Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and ices Explorer (SPHEREx). Using 8 months of survey data obtained from a 680‐km low‐Earth orbit, emission from He i , O i , and O i is mapped with both global spatial and multiseason temporal coverage. These measurements are obtained along upward looking lines of sight as part of the astrophysical survey, in contrast to conventional nadir‐viewing Earth remote sensing, which probes the behavior of low‐density material in the thermo‐ and exosphere. We describe an analytical framework to extract atmospheric emission lines in the presence of astrophysical backgrounds including stars, resolved galaxies, and the diffuse zodiacal light. The resulting global measurements reveal temporal variability over the survey period and systematic dependencies on geographic locations. We interpret these variations in the context of the variable solar illumination and seasonal effects. SPHEREx, an astrophysical space observatory, is demonstrated to be a promising new platform for monitoring NIR airglow and investigating its coupling to solar activity and global geophysical processes.