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Traditional jiutian tower illuminated at night with full moon in the background, Chengdu, China
A city in China plans to launch a satellite eight times brighter than the Full Moon to illuminate the city streets at night, but one astronomer thinks it could multiply by 47 light pollution.
As the People's Daily Online reports, scientists in Chengdu city in southwestern China believe they can cut street lights by launching a "lighting satellite" that can provide enough light for a distance of 6 to 50 square miles from the city.
When could "false moons" be launched?
Wu Chunfeng, chairman of Chengdu's microelectronics science and aerospace research (CASX) research company, said the satellite would complete moonlighting. However, the China Daily announced that three artificial moons will be launched in 2022. "By here, the three huge mirrors will divide the orbital plane 360 degrees, realizing the continuous illumination of. a sector for 24 hours, "Wu said." Using an artificial moon to light up an area of 50 square kilometers can save 1.2 billion yuan of electrical charge. " That's about 172 million US dollars.
Why are "fake moons" such a bad idea?
"Chengdu's" artificial moon "would dramatically increase the night-time brightness of a city already polluted by light, creating problems for Chengdu residents, who are unable to filter out unwanted light, as well as for the urban population of wildlife this can not just go inside and shut the shutters, "said John Barentine, director of public policy of the Dark-Sky International Association. Forbes. "This potentially creates significant new environmental problems with what, at first glance, seems to be a new approach to an already solved problem."
Exactly what will be the brightness of "false moons"?
The story of the People's Daily says that the brightness of the artificial moon could be eight times higher than that of the real 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 story of legends obsolete, extinct or forgotten. He adds that it is difficult to calculate the luminance of Chinese satellites without knowing the size of their reflective surfaces, if 1.6 lux was emitted uniformly by all the sky (solid angle = 2π steradians), that would be equivalent to a sky. brightness of 1.6 / (2π) = 255 mcd / m2, or about 14.1 magnitudes per second of arc squared. "This equates to the intensity of skyglow in a very dense urban area, like that of the largest cities in the world," he said.
Why fake moons would cause a lot more light pollution
Astronomers already avoid the Full Moon because its light pollution makes the stars much more difficult to see, but the false moons will cause much more light pollution that whoever says, according Barentine. "FFor comparison purposes, it is expected that the brightness of the sky above the center of Chengdu due to the light of the sky will be 5.43 mcd / m2, or about 18.25 magnitudes per second of arc, using satellite data obtained in 2015, "he said, the night sky, which represents an illumination of about 0.00543 cd / m2 * 2π steradian = 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 tested a "spatial mirror", but In the 1920's The German scientist Hermann Oberth has launched the idea of a space station from which a concave mirror 100 m wide could be used to reflect sunlight on a specific place on the Earth. His concept later interested the German army as a base for a "solar gun" during the Second World War.
What is International Observe The Moon Night?
The idea of "fake moons" comes as NASA prepares to score "International Observe The Moon Night" 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 from 19:00 to University of California at Los Angeles, where telescopes will be installed on the roof of the UCLA Mathematical Sciences Building (9th Floor) and at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Next year, the event "International Observe The Moon Night" will take place on October 5, 2019.
Wishing you a clear sky and big eyes
–
If you enjoyed this article, you might also like these:
Einstein is he deceived? Tomorrow begins a seven-year quest for Mercury to improve space-time
This weekend, the galaxy Andromeda, a star to billions
Did you miss the Perseids? Here's when and where to see the next big 2018 meteor shower
Here's how to 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.
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Traditional jiutian tower illuminated at night with full moon in the background, Chengdu, China
A city in China plans to launch a satellite eight times brighter than the Full Moon to illuminate the city streets at night, but one astronomer thinks it could multiply by 47 light pollution.
As the People's Daily Online reports, scientists in Chengdu city in southwestern China believe they can cut street lights by launching a "lighting satellite" that can provide enough light for a distance of 6 to 50 square miles from the city.
When could "false moons" be launched?
Wu Chunfeng, chairman of Chengdu's microelectronics science and aerospace research (CASX) research company, said the satellite would complete moonlighting. However, the China Daily announced that three artificial moons will be launched in 2022. "By here, the three huge mirrors will divide the orbital plane 360 degrees, realizing the continuous illumination of. a sector for 24 hours, "Wu said." Using an artificial moon to light up an area of 50 square kilometers can save 1.2 billion yuan of electrical charge. " That's about 172 million US dollars.
Why are "fake moons" such a bad idea?
"Chengdu's" artificial moon "would dramatically increase the night-time brightness of a city already polluted by light, creating problems for Chengdu residents, who are unable to filter out unwanted light, as well as for the urban population of wildlife this can not just go inside and shut the shutters, "said John Barentine, director of public policy of the Dark-Sky International Association. Forbes. "This potentially creates significant new environmental problems with what, at first glance, seems to be a new approach to an already solved problem."
Exactly what will be the brightness of "false moons"?
The story of the People's Daily says that the brightness of the artificial moon could be eight times higher than that of the real 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 story of legends obsolete, extinct or forgotten. He adds that it is difficult to calculate the luminance of Chinese satellites without knowing the size of their reflective surfaces, if 1.6 lux was emitted uniformly by all the sky (solid angle = 2π steradians), that would be equivalent to a sky. brightness of 1.6 / (2π) = 255 mcd / m2, or about 14.1 magnitudes per second of arc squared. "This equates to the intensity of skyglow in a very dense urban area, like that of the largest cities in the world," he said.
Why fake moons would cause a lot more light pollution
Astronomers already avoid the Full Moon because its light pollution makes the stars much more difficult to see, but the false moons will cause much more light pollution that whoever says, according Barentine. "FFor comparison purposes, it is expected that the sky brightness above Chengdu's center due to the sky light will be 5.43 mcd / m2, or about 18.25 magnitudes per square second, using the data satellites obtained in 2015, "he said.the night sky, which represents an illuminance of about 0.00543 cd / m2 * 2π steradian = 0.034 lux (Barentin's 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 tested a "spatial mirror", but In the 1920's The German scientist Hermann Oberth has launched the idea of a space station from which a concave mirror 100 m wide could be used to reflect sunlight on a specific place on the Earth. His concept later interested the German army as a base for a "solar gun" during the Second World War.
What is International Observe The Moon Night?
The idea of "fake moons" comes as NASA prepares to score "International Observe The Moon Night" 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 from 19:00 to University of California at Los Angeles, where telescopes will be installed on the roof of the UCLA Mathematical Sciences Building (9th Floor) and at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Next year, the event "International Observe The Moon Night" will take place on October 5, 2019.
Wishing you a clear sky and big eyes
–
If you enjoyed this article, you might also like these:
Einstein is he deceived? Tomorrow begins a seven-year quest for Mercury to improve space-time
This weekend, the galaxy Andromeda, a star to billions of dollars, will be at its best
Did you miss the Perseids? Here's when and where to see the next big 2018 meteor shower
Here's how to 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.
