According to an astronomer, China's "fake moons" could make light pollution almost fifty times worse



[ad_1]
<div _ngcontent-c14 = "" innerhtml = "

Traditional jiutian tower illuminated at night with the full moon in the background, Chengdu, China

A city in China is planning to launch a satellite that should be eight An astronomer thinks that light pollution could be multiplied by 47.

According to the People's Daily Online, scientists from Chengdu City, in southwestern China think able to cut street lights by launching a "light satellite" capable of providing enough light for a distance of 6 to 50 square miles from the city.

When could the "fake moons" be launched [1945] 19659003] Wu Chunfeng, chairman of the Chengdu Aerospace Science and Technology System Research Institute (CASX), announced that the satellite would complete the moonlit light and will be launched in 2022. "At that time, there, the three huge mirrors will divide the "360-degree orbital plane, achieving continuous lighting of an area for 24 hours," said Wu. "Using an artificial moon to illuminate an area of ​​50 square kilometers can allow for a better night's sleep." save 1.2 billion yuan of electrical charge. " That's about 172 million US dollars.

Why are "false moons" such a bad idea?

"The" artificial moon "of Chengdu would have the effect of dramatically increasing the night light of a city already polluted by light, which would create problems for both residents of Chengdu, who are unable to filter out the unwanted light, as well as for the population of urban wildlife who can not just enter and shut the shutters, "John Barentine, director of public policy at the Dark-Sky International Association, has declared Forbes . "This potentially creates new environmental problems with what, at first glance, seems to be a new approach to an already solved problem."

Will "false moons" be brightly lit?

The story of the People's Daily indicates that the brightness of the artificial moon could be eight times greater than that of the true moon. An academic article from last year, How light is moonlight ?, discovered that the brightest full moon possible under ideal conditions has an illuminance of about 0.3 lux, but often exceeds only 0 , 15 to 0.2 lux. "This means that the" artificial moon "could produce an illumination of up to 1.6 lux," says Barentine author of The Lost Constellations: a history of obsolete traditions, extinct or forgotten. He adds that it is difficult to calculate the luminance of the Chinese satellites without knowing the size of their reflective surfaces, if the 1.6 lux were emitted uniformly by all the sky (solid angle = 2π steradians), they would then be equivalent. a sky brightness of 1.6 / (2π) = 255 mcd / m2, or about 14.1 magnitudes per second of arc squared. "That's equivalent to the intensity of skyglow in a very dense urban area, like that of the largest cities in the world," he says.

Why false moons cause much more light pollution

Stargazers already avoid a Full Moon because its light pollution makes the stars much more difficult to see, but false moons will cause pollution luminous much more important than anyone says, according to Barentin. "According to forecasts, the brightness of the sky above the center of Chengdu due to the light of the sky would be 5.43 mcd / m2, or about 18.25 magnitudes per second of arc, at the 39, using satellite data obtained in 2015, "he said. Assuming that light radiates uniformly in the night sky, this corresponds to an illumination of approximately 0.00543 cd / m2 * 2π steradians = 0.034 lux (Barentin calculations). "Therefore, the" artificial moon "would increase the level of ground lighting by a factor of about 47," he says.

A full moon near the Chinese flag (AP Photo / Ng Han Guan)

Are artificial moons a new idea?

In 1993, Russia had tested a "space mirror", but in the 1920s A German scientist, Hermann Oberth, had initiated the idea of ​​a station spatial A concave mirror 100 m wide could be used to reflect sunlight on a specific place on Earth. His concept later interested the German army as the basis of a "sun cannon" during World War II.

What's International Observe The Moon Night?

The idea of ​​"fake moons" comes as NASA prepares to mark "The International Night of the Moon" on Saturday. An annual event around the world, at the time of writing this document, 761 events were scheduled to observe the moon, including at 7:30 pm at Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York, where will speak Ernie Wright of NASA. Others include starting at 7:00 pm at the University of California in Los Angeles, where telescopes will be installed on the roof of UCLA's maths science building (9th floor), and at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.

The following year, "Observe International on the Moon" Night "will take place on October 5, 2019.

Wishing you a clear sky and big eyes

– [19659003] If you liked this article, you might also like these:

Einstein Is it Fooled? Tomorrow Begins a Seven Year Quest on Mercury to Fine-tune Space-Time

This weekend, the Andromeda galaxy, a star to the billions of dollars, will be at its best

You missed the Perseids? Here is when and where to see the next big meteor shower of 2018

Here is how see the eight planets in one night this week

Follow me on Twitter @jamieacarter @TheNextEclipse or read my other articles from Forbes via my profile page.

">

Jiutian traditional tower illuminated at night with the full moon in the background, C Hengdu, China

A Chinese city plans to launch a satellite eight times brighter than the full moon to illuminate city streets at night, but one astronomer thinks it could multiply by 47 light pollution.

As reported by the People's Daily Online, scientists in Chengdu City, southwest China, believe they can cut streetlights by launching a "lighting satellite" able to provide enough light to cover a distance of 6 to 50 square miles from the city.

When could the "false moons" be launched?

The 202o plans are defined by Wu Chunfeng, chairman of Chengdu (CASX), a research firm on microelectronic systems for aerospace science and technology, said the satellite would complement the clear Moon. However, the China Daily announced that three artificial satellites would be launched in 2022. "In, the three huge mirrors will divide the orbital plane 360 ​​degrees, achieving permanent lighting of an area for 24 hours," Wu said. "Using an artificial moon to illuminate an area of ​​50 square kilometers can save 1.2 billion yuan of electrical charge." It's about 172 million US dollars.

Why are "fake moons" such a bad idea?

"The" artificial moon "of Chengdu would have the effect of dramatically increasing the night-time brightness of a city already polluted by light, creating problems for both Chengdu residents, who are unable to filter unwanted light, as well as for the population of urban wildlife who can not just enter and shut the shutters, "John Barentine, director of public policy at the International Dark-Sky Association, said declared Forbes . "This potentially creates significant new environmental problems with what, at first glance, seems to be a new approach to an already solved problem."

It is exactly how "fake moons" will be brilliant "be?

The People's Daily story indicates that the brightness of the artificial moon could be eight times greater than that of the real moon.A last year's academic journal, How bright is moonlight ?, found that the brightest possible FullMoon, under ideal conditions, has an illumination of about 0.3 lux, but it is often from 0.15 to 0.2 lux. "This means that the" artificial moon "could produce an illumination of up to 1.6 lux," says Barentine author of The Lost Constellations: a history of obsolete, extinct or forgotten traditions He adds that it is difficult to calculate the luminance of Chinese satellites without knowing the size of their reflective surfaces, if the 1.6 lux were emitted uniformly by all the sky (solid angle = 2π steradians) they would then be equivale a sky brightness of 1.6 / (2π) = 255 mcd / m2, or about 14.1 magnitudes per second of arc squared. "That's equivalent to the intensity of skyglow in a very dense urban area, like that of the largest cities in the world," he says.

Why would false moons cause much more light pollution

Avoid a Full Moon already because its light pollution makes stars much more difficult to see, but false moons will cause light pollution much more important than anyone says, according to Barentin. "According to forecasts, the brightness of the sky above the center of Chengdu due to the light of the sky would be 5.43 mcd / m2, or about 18.25 magnitudes per second of arc, at the 39, using satellite data obtained in 2015, "he said. Assuming that light radiates uniformly in the night sky, this corresponds to an illumination of approximately 0.00543 cd / m2 * 2π steradians = 0.034 lux (Barentin calculations). "Therefore, the" artificial moon "would increase the level of ground lighting by a factor of about 47," he says.

A full moon near the Chinese flag (AP Photo / Ng Han Guan)

Are artificial moons a new idea?

In 1993, Russia had tested a "space mirror", but in the 1920s A German scientist, Hermann Oberth, had initiated the idea of ​​a station spatial A concave mirror 100 m wide could be used to reflect sunlight on a specific place on Earth. His concept later interested the German army as the basis of a "sun cannon" during World War II.

What's International Observe The Moon Night?

The idea of ​​"fake moons" comes as NASA prepares to mark "The International Night of the Moon" on Saturday. An annual event around the world, at the time of writing this document, 761 events were scheduled to observe the moon, including at 7:30 pm at Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York, where will speak Ernie Wright of NASA. Others include starting at 7:00 pm at the University of California in Los Angeles, where telescopes will be installed on the roof of UCLA's maths science building (9th floor), and at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.

The following year, "Observe International on the Moon" Night "will take place on October 5, 2019.

Wishing you a clear sky and big eyes

– [19659003] If you liked this article, you might also like these:

Einstein Is it Fooled? Tomorrow Begins a Seven Year Quest on Mercury to Fine-tune Space-Time

This weekend, the Andromeda galaxy, a star to the billions of dollars, will be at its best

You missed the Perseids? Here is when and where to see the next big meteor shower of 2018

Here is how see the eight planets in one night this week

Follow me on Twitter @jamieacarter @TheNextEclipse or read my other articles from Forbes via my profile page.

[ad_2]
Source link