On Feb 25, 4:31=A0pm, Damien Valentine <valen...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> On Feb 23, 8:41=A0am, IsaacKuo <mech...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> > I recently wondered the same thing, because I'm trying to analyze
> > the performance of an occultation sensor network. =A0The basic
> > idea behind an occultation sensor network is that each sensor
> > drone simply stares at all known pinprick light source stars and
> > looks for any of them briefly winking out. =A0This corresponds to
> > a detection of a target.
> Is there anything that would naturally result in occultation other
> than...whatever targets your sensor net is designed to look for? =A0Some
> extremely short-period variable star, for instance? =A0A close binary
> where a brown dwarf eclipses its companion? =A0Et cetera...
In the simplest drone design, the drone would only check for
"pings" against nice stable stars and non-eclipsing binaries.
With relatively simple software, though, it would be easy to
analyze data from variable stars and eclipsing binaries also.
A natural cause of occultation would be Oort cloud objects
and rogue planetary bodies. These are objects which are
much closer to the sensor than the star, but could still be
interstellar distances away. It could easily be the case that
the detection of such objects is the PRIMARY mission of
the occultation sensor network, and the military potential
for detecting "nearby" objects is just a bonus.
In order to distinguish a faraway object from a nearby
object, a sensor drone might be equiped with a powerful
active sensor (expensive), or you might simply rely upon
the sensor network to make multiple detections. A
faraway object will only be detected once. A nearby
object will probably be detected by more than one sensor
drone from different directions. Depending on how far
the target moves between detections, you have two or
more nearly intersecting lines which pinpoint its location.
Isaac Kuo
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