redesign of ONeill cylinder mirrors

Combs, Mike wrote:

>From: Bob Hardman [mailto:Bsanctuary@...]
>
>>1. Re getting rapidly cooked.
>>
>> Since the mirror would be composed of an array of small mirrors,
>> those [progressing toward] the sunward end would be gradually
>> dispersed, i.e., a pattern such as a checkerboard in which less
>> and less of the "squares" actually contain mirrors.
>>
>>
>
>That would work, though we'd no longer have a natural-looking sun in the
>sky (and how important an issue this is varies with taste). At the
>anti-sunward end, the sun might look pretty normal, though its edges
>might seem to ripple a bit. As one progressed toward the sunward end of
>the cylinder, the image of the sun would break up into thousands of
>brilliant tiny stars which would become steadily further apart. The
>"stars" would wink on, move, and then wink out in the same circular
>patch of sky.
>
Maybe you would like to think of it like an approximation to a
semitransparent mirror.
Or like a picture composed of pixels on your computer display.
I doubt you could look into the sun and see those thousand stars.
Think of it as a transparent mirror and you realize the sun won't appear
larger on the sunward side.
As for the rippling, it depends on the size, spacing and quality of the
mirrors.
I'd say it could be much cheaper to have it built the way you describe it,
but if you (or the rich people having this habitat built for them) can
order to make the mirrors
better and the sun look more natural.

Hm, maybe the bending of the conical structure may tend to have an
enlarging effect.
Maybe you can compensate by swinging the small mirrors forth and back a
little in
synchronization with the cylinders rotation. Even more expensive...

I for myself do not intend to look into the sun. It's unhealthy to the
eyes. ;*)
Maybe a star-field-like distributed sun is what gives a more comfortable
light in the end...