Table 1. Selected auroral and airglow atomic and molecular emissions that might be of interest in SWIR imaging applications

Emission ID	Species	Wavelength [nm]-air	Contamination	Notes
He (3S 3P-3S)	He	1,083.0	3 lines multiplet, contamination from four OH Q branch components	Charge exchange of He++, He+; excitation by photo-electrons and energetic electrons; Shefov et al. (2009) indicated typical aurora He brightness of ~10 kR
Pβ (3-5)	H	1,281.81	Not seen in Vallance Jones & Gattinger (1976) or Baker et al. (1985) auroral spectra, but likely in proton aurora	Charge exchange of H+; typical brightness unknown
Pγ (3-6)	H	1,093.82	Not seen in any published spectra	Charge exchange of H+
NI 7	N	939.3	Contamination from N2+ Meinel (2-1)	Permitted 3s2P-3p2 D0 No nightglow seen; auroral brightness ~200 R
NI 18	N	1,011.5	No auroral contamination	Permitted 3p4 D0-3d4F; 5.0 kR in Vallance Jones & Gattinger (1976)
NI 3F	N	1,038.55	Slight contamination from N2 1P (5,6) but otherwise clear of OH or auroral molecular bands	Forbidden (N2D-N2P); No nightglow seen; auroral 20 kR in Vallance Jones & Gattinger (1976)
O2 IR A-band	O	1,268.7	-	~94 km altitude
NI	N	1,342.96	Clear of OH or auroral molecular bands	1 kR in Baker et al. (1977); 0.5 kR, Gattinger & Vallance Jones (1981)
OI	O	1,316.486	No auroral molecular contamination	Permitted 3p 3P-4s 3S0; 2.3 kR in Baker et al. (1977)
N2+ meinel 0-0	N2	1,103.65 band origin	No OH contamination	Auroral activity; 212 kR in Baker et al. (1985)
N2 1 positive 0-0	N2	1,051.00 band origin	No OH contamination	Auroral activity; 77.1 kR in Baker et al. (1985)
OH 3-1 band P1 (2)	OH	1,523.68	Little auroral contamination	Rotational temperature and intensity maps; 5–10 kR brightness
OH 3-1 band P1 (4)	OH	1,542.79		Rotational temperature and intensity maps; 5–10 kR brightness

Typical auroral brightness are indicated relative to an IBC III aurora. The terms VJ & G and G & VJ refer to Vallance Jones & Gattinger (1976) and Gattinger & Vallance Jones (1981), respectively. These are all Air wavelengths. The phrase “Band Origin” does not denote a specific wavelength feature within a molecular band; rather, it denotes a numerical value representing the extrapolation to the minimum of the potential well.
SWIR, short-wave infrared.