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Threat to Astronomy by Space Art

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Paul Murdin
Paul Murdin*
Affiliation:
Royal Greenwich Observatory, Herstmonceux Castle, Hailsham, East Sussex BN27 1RP, U.K.

Abstract

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The Light Ring, proposed as a celebration of the centenary of the Eiffel Tower, and now withdrawn by its sponsors, demonstrated the feasibility to launch relatively inexpensive satellites which subtend an appreciable solid angle as seen from earth. Other satellites in the competition organized by the Eiffel Tower proposed configurations under the name of Space Art which could unacceptably increase the night sky background. Satellites of this nature, launched for noble but essentially frivolous motives, pose a threat to optical astronomy.

Type
Space Debris
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 112: Light Pollution, Radio Interference, and Space Debris , 1991 , pp. 139 - 144
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 1991

References

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