Suomi-NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band Calibration with Stars

Observations of stars can be used to calibrate the radiometric performance of the Day/Night Band (DNB) of the Suomi-NPP instrument VIIRS. Bright stars are normally visible in the Space View window. In this paper, we describe several potential applications of stellar observations with preliminary results for several. These applications include routine trending of the gain of the high- and mid-gain stages of the DNB and trending the gain ratio between those stages. Many of the stars observed by the VIIRS DNB have absolute flux curves available, allowing for an absolute calibration. Additionally, stars are visible during scheduled lunar roll observations. The electronic sector rotations applied during the scheduled lunar observations greatly increases the sky area recorded for a brief period, increasing the observing opportunities. Additionally, the DNB recorded data during the spacecraft pitch maneuver. This means the deep sky was viewed through the full Earth View. In this situation, thousands of stars (and the planet Mars) are recorded over a very short time period and over all aggregation zones. A possible application would be to create a gain curve by comparing the instrument response to the known apparent stellar brightness for a large number of stars of similar spectral shape. Finally, the DNB is especially affected the mirror degradation afflicting VIIRS. The degradation has shifted peak of the relative spectral response (RSR) of the DNB the blue and the effective band pass has been slightly reduced. The change in response for hot stars (effective temperatures of over 30,000 K) due to this degradation will differ by about 10 percent from the response change of cool stars (below 3500 K).