Is it possible for the earth to have an eternal solar eclipse?
With news about the Faroe island solar eclipse, I wondered if a constant solar eclipse would be possible.
Is it theoretically possible to move the moon or some large object into the L1 earth-sun Lagrange point or would it be too large?
How else could a constant solar eclipse be achieved?
What would be the maximum size of such an object or could some other shape like a disk more effectively achieve this?
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1 answer
A soletta/solar mirror could work.
In Green Mars a giant solar mirror is put in Mars L1 point, and magnifies the sunlight to make Mars brighter and warmer. It's held in place by stabilizers and also through a solar sail type effect. Another is put in Venus L1 point to block all sunlight and freeze the atmosphere, so it could be replaced with something less lethal.
"Well, and now with this soletta pouring sunlight onto the surface!" Jessica exclaimed. She shook her head, as if disapproving. "Natural insolation averaged forty-five percent of Earth's, and with the soletta it's supposed to be up to fifty-four."
"Tell me more about this soletta," Sax said carefully. They told him in a kind of round. A group of transnationals, led by Subarashii, had built a circular slatted array of solar sail mirrors, placed between the sun and Mars and aligned to focus inward sunlight that would have just missed the planet. An annular support mirror, rotating in a polar orbit, reflected light back to the soletta to counterbalance the pressure of the sunlight, and that light was bounced back onto Mars as well. Both these mirror systems were truly huge compared to the early freighter sails Sax had enlisted to reflect light onto the surface, and the reflected light they were adding to the system was really significant.
"It must have cost a fortune to build them," Sax murmured.
If a soletta was put into the L1 point, but then sabotaged or just glitched, it could direct the light away from earth and cause a permanate eclipse of the sun.
Now for a reason why they might put a soletta in Earth's L1: Global warming. Earth getting a little to hot, so direct 5% of the light away, and cool things down a bit, like a giant thermostat... but something goes wrong.
Addressing comments
You wouldn't need it all the way out in the L1 point. It could even be inside the moons orbit, using the pressure of the solar wind to keep it in place, along with thrusters and stabilizers. This would reduce the size needed.
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