Rocket observations of the dayglow spectrum of the terrestrial atmosphere between 840 ¿ and 1860 ¿ at 2 ¿ resolution were obtained with a sounding rocket payload flown on January 17, 1985. Additionally, spectra were also obtained using a 0.125-m focal length scanning Ebert-Fastie monochromator covering the wavelength interval of 1150--1550 ¿ at 7 ¿ resolution on this flight and on a sounding rocket flight on August 29, 1983, under similar viewing geometries and solar zenith angles. Three bands of the N2 c'4 system are seen clearly resolved in the dayglow. Analysis of high-resolution N2 Lyman-Birge-Hopfield data shows no anomalous vibrational distribution as has been reported from other observations. The altitude profiles of the observed O and N2 emissions demonstrate that the MSIS-83 model O and N2 densities are appropriate for the conditions of both the 1983 and 1985 rocket flights. A reduction of a factor of 2 in the model O2 density is required for both flights to reproduce the low-altitude atomic oxygen emission profiles. The volume excitation rates calculated using the Hinteregger et al. (1981) SC No. 21REFW solar reference spectrum and the photoelectron flux model of Strickland and Meier (1982) need to be scaled upward by a factor of 1.4 for both flights to match the observations. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1990