while a polluted sky would increase the recorded intensity to fpN. We might then find losses to be objectionable for p 1.1-1.2 and serious for p > 1.2. Table 1 provides a description of the sky brightness pattern associated with a full complement of 60 solar power satellites, each having mv = -4.3 and assuming a 1/r2 diffuse brightness profile under perfect conditions. We take mv = _9 22 mag arcsec for the natural sky and consider the brightness in zones centered on the satellites. Table 1 shows that for photographic plates, the SPS-induced background would be serious over approximately 1/6 of the sky and would cover a large fraction 1/4) of the prime region near the meridian. This problem could in principle be overcome by stacking several plates, but systematic errors will probably cause a loss of efficiency so that photographic techniques would no longer be useful over much of the sky. In particular, wide-field survey capabilities with fast Schmidt telescopes would probably become a thing of the past. TABLE 1. Assumed Sky Brightness Profiles for the SPS (mv = -4.3)
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTU5NjU0Mg==