基于3200万次测光观测确定人造空间天体对光学天文学的影响

中文摘要 AI 辅助

对亮度大于6.0等、7.0等和8.0等的卫星、火箭及空间碎片的测光观测特征进行了分析。这些星等对应国际天文学联合会定义的对天文学的不同干扰程度。亮度大于上述星等的天体每平方度天区的密度分别为0.38×10⁻³、0.76×10⁻³和1.10×10⁻³。天体出现在天文图像中的概率取决于视场和曝光时长。对于亮度大于7.0等的天体，在视场为10平方度、曝光时长为10秒的图像中出现该天体的概率为15%。在黑暗天空条件下，人眼可见该天体的概率为59%。这些百分比涵盖了所有夜间时段。我们探讨了它们如何随太阳在地平线下的距离变化而改变。对自航天器星座时代开始以来发射的天体数据的分析表明，卫星是明亮观测结果的主要来源。如果卫星运营商发射100万颗航天器的计划得以实现，那么在每晚的数小时内，几乎所有时长为数秒、尺寸为数度的天文图像都可能受到污染。最后，观测夜空的人们会发现卫星比恒星更显眼。

英文摘要

Photometric observations of satellites, rockets and space debris brighter than magnitudes 6.0, 7.0 and 8.0 are characterized. Those magnitudes pertain to different levels of interference with astronomy as defined by the International Astronomical Union. The densities of objects per square degree of sky and brighter than the magnitudes listed above are 0.38 e-3, 0.76 e-3 and 1.10 e-3, respectively. Probabilities of objects appearing on astronomical images depend on the field of view and the exposure duration. For objects brighter than magnitude 7.0 the probability that one will appear on a 10 second exposure of a 10 degree square field of view is 15%. The probability that an object is visible to the unaided eye under dark sky conditions is 59%. These percentages represent all nighttime hours. We discuss how they change with the Sun's distance below the horizon. Examination of data for objects launched since the start of the spacecraft constellation era shows that satellites account for most of the bright observations. If the plans of satellite operators to launch a million spacecraft are realized, nearly every astronomical image of a few seconds duration and several degrees in size may be contaminated during several hours of each night. Finally, people viewing the night sky may perceive satellites more strongly than stars.

发表机构

• IAU Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky（国际天文联合会保护黑暗与宁静天空中心）
• Czech Academy of Sciences（捷克科学院）
• Institute of Physics, Czech Academy of Sciences（捷克科学院物理研究所）

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补充信息

备注

This paper was reviewed by the IAU CPS