Preliminary results from a May 8, 1984 sounding rocket survey of the soft X-ray background are presented. The X-ray detectors are sensitive to X-rays in three soft X-ray bandpasses: 80-110 eV, 90-188 eV, and 284-532 eV (at 20% of peak response). The lowest energy X-rays in this range have a mean free path of order 1019 cm-2 and provide information about the local interstellar medium. The count rate in the 80-110 eV energy band (the Be band) tracks the 90-188 eV band (the B band) very well, indicating that the same ~1 million degree gas that is responsible for the B band emission may be responsible for the bulk of the Be band X-rays as well. We estimate for the flux in the Be band ~1 photon cm-2 s-1 sr-1 eV-1 , about a factor of four lower than that found by Stern and Bowyer (1979) and Paresce and Stern (1981) over a similar energy band.
CCD Sounding Rocket Observation of the High‐Latitude Soft X‐Ray Background