English

Method on Using Shadow Altitude to Remove Geocoronal H$\alpha$

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics 2026-02-03 v1 Astrophysics of Galaxies

Abstract

Spectroscopic surveys allow spatially resolved spectroscopy of galaxies to study their interstellar medium (ISM). However, observations of Galactic Hα\alpha emission are contaminated by geocoronal Hα\alpha emission. The latter is known to depend on the shadow altitude, a geometric parameter relating the line of sight to Earth's shadow cone. Using fibres on blank skys from the SDSS-IV/MaStar survey, we established an empirical relation between the geocoronal Hα\alpha emission and the shadow altitude, with a root mean square fractional scatter of 23.52%\%. This relation can be used to predict geocoronal Hα\alpha emission so that it can be removed from observed spectra. This removal method is advantageous when the observed targets are extensive in the sky, and it does not require a large velocity separation between the observed target and the local standard of rest. This will enable reliable studies of Galactic Hα\alpha in intermediate spectral resolution integral field spectroscopic surveys. We also find tentative evidences for the dependences of geocoronal emission on solar activity and the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2602.00779,
  title  = {Method on Using Shadow Altitude to Remove Geocoronal H$\alpha$},
  author = {Wai-Kiu Ricky Wong and Renbin Yan and Zesen Lin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.00779},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

submitted to Astronomy & Astrophysics

R2 v1 2026-07-01T09:29:31.859Z