SpaceX satellites are ruining sky watchers’ views (and photos) of NEOWISE, the brightest comet in the northern hemisphere since the Hale-Bopp show from 1995-96.
Visible just above the horizon at this time, the comet appears faint and small to the naked eye, but can be clearly seen through long-lens cameras. Typically, when photographers capture objects like this in the night sky, they use long exposure times, leaving the camera aperture open to collect light over the course of several seconds. But now comet hunters report that a new fleet of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites is leaving bright spots on their NEOWISE snapshots, as bright orbiters traverse their frames during long exposures.
17 30-second images of the comet added by @cielodecanarias, completely photographed by @elonmusk’s #Starlink satellites. There are a few hundred of them right now, there will be a few thousand in the near future. @SpaceX agrees to coat them to better target them, but still … pic.twitter.com/TYtTf5xwhc22 July 2020
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This is not the first time that SpaceX has been criticized for these new sources of air light pollution. When the first satellites were launched in the Starlink constellation, part of the company’s plan to offer Internet access from orbit, in 2019, astronomers immediately expressed concern about its reflective properties. Telescopes, like consumer cameras, generally use long exposures in their scientific work. Starlink appears to be particularly reflective and orbit at a height that can leave bright spots on the telescope’s sensors and contaminate the data.
“When we develop new and large facilities, large observatories, large surveys to go and do things like discover dangerous asteroids, we design them within an inch of their lives. We do it to make sure that every [risk] explains, “Alex Parker, a Colorado-based astronomer, said to Live Science in May 2019. “This is one of those confounding factors for which, generally speaking, we have not prepared ourselves because it has not been a problem so far.”
Parker told Live Science that the Starlink fleet, which could eventually they number in the thousands, seems to be particularly inclined to shine at night. (Currently, 422 Starlink satellites are in orbit.)
The appearance of NEOWISE in the dawn sky has created a great interest in astrophotography, and with it a new group of sky watchers disappointed to see their view of the universe obscured by Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit.
3 Starlink satellites pass through Comet Neowise from Highpoint’s panoramic view on Friday night! #Starlink #neowise #spacex pic.twitter.com/uoTNyKztxH July 19, 2020
Starlink satellites near or above Comet NEOWISE … otNot visible to the naked eye, but these are just three of several photos (still unprocessed) where trails are visible in a single night (~ 1 hour shooting session) . It is becoming difficult to avoid them in an astrophotography. pic.twitter.com/OTyGY2B71L20 July 2020
Neowise X Starlink r / starlink pic.twitter.com/BaJTLgtqkg July 24, 2020
SpaceX, which has not returned a request for comment, has said it is taking steps to reduce Starlink light pollution. But, as of this writing, shiny stripes are still a problem.
Originally published in Live Science.
