Results of photographing the lunar disk in the UV region of the spectrum

The results of experiments performed in 1987 by cosmonauts Yu. Romanenko an d A. Aleksandrov on board the Mir orbital space station using a Pegas UV ca mera are discussed. Spectral-band photography of the lunar disk at a wavele ngth of 0.28 mu m with a spectral band width equal to 0.025 mu m permitted measurement of the spectral radiance of more than 10 thousand individual el ements on the surface of the lunar disk, determination of their statistical widths, and calculation of the mean spectral radiance over the entire area of the lunar disk (or the mean spectral geometric albedo over the entire a rea of the lunar disk). The data obtained are in good agreement with the av ailable Russian and non-Russian model data. (C) 2000 The Optical Society of America. [S1070-9762(00)00401-2].