The NEOWISE comet shines with a thin ion tail and a wider dust tail. The comet was discovered in March. … [+]
Online images of Comet NEOWISE, a spectacular comet from the outer Solar System, are emerging on a once-per-6,800-year journey to the inner Solar System, also shown by Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starlink satellites.
An image created by Daniel López of El Cielo de Canarias (The Sky of The Canary Islands), published on Facebook and circulated on Twitter by astronomer Julien Girard, shows that Comet NEOWISE is “completely photo-pumped” by dozens of unexpectedly bright satellites:
The image above is not a photo, but 17 together, each of them long-exposure images. Is a lapse of time, so it does not reflect what an observer would see with the naked eye. However, it shows how easily Starlink satellites can be seen.
Here we show you how to take a photo of Comet NEOWISE.
Meanwhile, there are plenty of other images taken from Comet NEOWISE recently that also feature Starlink satellites.
What is SpaceX Starlink?
Starlink is a super fast internet service that will be delivered via satellite. Satellite broadband internet has not been possible until now because communication satellites have gone too far to create anything other than a slow connection.
However, with satellites in a low Earth orbit (LEO) it is possible that the SpaceX Starlink service can offer a speed fast enough, perhaps one gigabit per second, to attract those in rural areas and other places where fast Internet so far it has been expensive or unavailable.
That’s not going to persuade astrophotographers, who are watching Starlink “ruin” his hobby, as this image shows:
How many SpaceX Starlink satellites are now in orbit?
There are now more than 500 Starlink satellites in orbit. However, SpaceX plans to deploy 12,000 satellites by the mid-2020s: 8,000 satellites at 500 km height and 4,000 satellites in an orbit 1,200 km high.
In the future, SpaceX could have as many as 42,000 broadband Internet satellites in orbit.
However, that’s just one company. Others are also planning mega-constellations; This could be a growing long-term problem for astronomers.
Although satellites are more easily visible at the beginning and end of the night, they are also visible throughout the night.
How might SpaceX Starlink satellites affect science and astronomy?
Although for now they are “only” astrophotographers whose images are affected by the brightness of Starlink satellites, there is concern among professional astronomers that they are affecting important observations.
The biggest concern is for wide-field sky studies designed to identify incoming comets and meteorites, and much more. For example, the $ 466 million Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile, which will have its “first light” in 2022, is believed to be especially disadvantaged by the glow of SpaceX’s Starlink constellation.
It will examine the entire visible sky in just three nights, effectively producing a film of our Universe. Much of your data can be affected by the brightness of Starlink satellites.
What is SpaceX doing about it?
Can SpaceX fix the problem? The 57 newest Starlink satellites, which were launched earlier this month, are so-called “VisorSats” equipped with shields to prevent sunlight from hitting the brightest parts of the spacecraft.
There is a lot of anger between amateur and professional astronomers, although SpaceX is clearly concerned and trying to mitigate the situation.
Can a solution be found or will this problem get worse? Is it worth paying a price for more connectivity?
Either way, when it comes to mega-constellations, the occasional comet photopump might be the least of astronomy’s problems.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
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