© SpaceX; Kevork Djansezian / Getty; Business Insider
Elon Musk plans to surround Earth with Starlink satellites to provide a global high-speed, low-latency Internet service. SpaceX; Kevork Djansezian / Getty; Business Insider
Elon Musk’s growing constellation of Internet satellites has been sending brilliant rays of light across the night skies across the globe. Even the largest comet that passed Earth in 25 years was not spared.
A striking photo showing Comet Neowise behind those streaks of light shows how easily satellites can overshadow observations of distant objects in space.
© Daniel López
A Starlink satellite train passes in front of Comet Neowise. Daniel Lopez
The satellite project, called Starlink, is Musk’s plan to cover Earth on high-speed satellite Internet. However, the effort has been criticized by professional and amateur astronomers alike, because bright satellites can spoil the skies and disrupt telescope observations.
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That is what happened to astrophotographer Daniel López on July 21, when he was filming Comet Neowise before it disappeared for another 6,800 years. He shared the resulting image on the Facebook page of his photography company, El Cielo de Canarias, saying it was a shame to see the satellites put on such a show.
López’s photo is a composite of 17 images taken within 30 seconds. Each image was long exposure, meaning it captured the comet for several seconds.
Astronomer Julien Girard shared the image on Twitter, saying the satellites had “fully pumped” the comet.
“Two of my photos the other night were also bombarded by a Starlink [satellite]Girard said.
López also shared the time-lapse video behind the picture. He added that the footprints from the satellites were visible in 20 of his images.
Because it is a composite time lapse, the image does not show what you would see with the naked eye. But it illustrates why many astronomers worry about the threat that satellite constellations like Starlink pose to terrestrial astronomy.
Too many satellites could mess with astronomy on Earth
Long exposure images are crucial when studying distant objects in the night sky. Telescopes on Earth observe celestial targets for hours, slowly building a detailed image that provides astronomers with rich data.
But a poorly programmed Starlink satellite can ruin that kind of research by creating a long streak in the image and blocking the objects that astronomers want to study.
© Vimeo / SatTrackCam Leiden
An astronomer in the Netherlands captured the Starlink train that crossed the sky on May 24, 2019, shortly after its launch. Vimeo / SatTrackCam Leiden
“In that couple of seconds, a full 10 or 15 minute exposure goes awry,” astronomer Jonathan McDowell told Business Insider in June.
SpaceX shares Starlink’s orbital trajectory data with astronomers so they can plan their telescope observations around the movements of the satellites. Briefly turning off the camera when the satellite passes over it can save a long exposure image.
But Musk’s ambitions could make it almost impossible to avoid fast-moving satellites. SpaceX has requested government permission to put a total of 42,000 satellites into orbit to form a “mega-constellation” around Earth.
“If they come all the time, then knowing when they will come is not helpful,” McDowell said. Even now, he added, astronomers sometimes can’t avoid photobombs.
© SpaceX via Twitter
The first batch of 60 high-speed Starlink Internet satellites, each weighing approximately 500 pounds, packed in a pile prior to launch on board a Falcon 9 rocket on May 23, 2019. SpaceX via Twitter
SpaceX is not the only company that builds a massive fleet of satellites. Companies like OneWeb and Amazon have similar ambitions.
“The sky will not be what it has been for millions of years. Thousands of dots will appear and disappear in the night sky,” López told Gizmodo. “Personally, I believe that if no action is taken, it will be the end of astronomy as we know it from Earth’s surface.”
Professional astronomers have given equally dire warnings.
“The night sky is for everyone, it has been analyzed and used for millennia,” said Girard. “We should appreciate and protect it as our Earth.”
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