Tech2 News StaffJuly 27, 2020 1:51:40 PM IST
Since July 14, the Neowise Kite o C / 2020 F3 has been visible in the night sky, and will remain visible until August 2. The celestial event that happens once every 7,000 years has created quite a stir in the astronomy community, with professionals and amateurs seeking to capture it in action.
However, not all astronomers seem to be getting their way. The Starlink flock of satellites under SpaceX by Elon Musks appears to have otherwise photobombed beautiful images of the rare comet sighting. Astronomers brought Twitter to express their outrage.
Starlink photobombs Comet Neowise from SpaceX on their journey, Image credit: Twitter / Julien Girard @djulik
Daniel López of El Cielo de Canarias (The Sky of the Canary Islands) captured an image of the comet Neowise that was completely drowned by the Starlink fleet. I had published it in Facebook, after which astronomer Julien Girard tweeted the image on Twitter, complaining about the intrusion.
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/TYtTf5xwhc
– Julien Girard (@djulik) July 22, 2020
“Astronomers, astrophysicists and astrophotographers are concerned about the large deployment of small satellites orbiting the earth,” said astrophotographer Daniel Lopez, who took a photo of the disturbed Neowise. Gizmodo.
Other astrophotography enthusiasts have also opted for Twitter to talk about the threat. Reports from the fleet that now has more than 400 satellites captured ruining images, time lapses, and completely eclipsing the comet, have come from around the world.
On a previous occasion, Starlink satellites were mistaken for UFOs, since no one had seen anything like this before.
A report from Living science explains the complexities of capturing celestial objects in the sky. She states: “Telescopes, like consumer cameras, generally use long exposures in their scientific work. Starlink appears to be particularly thoughtful and orbit at an elevation that can leave bright spots on the telescope’s sensors and contaminate the data.”
The horror…
The Horror … # starlink #NEOWISE @elonmusk @CeosGalegos pic.twitter.com/eDpYRZYNXM– O Fins (@CorneliusGZ) July 17, 2020
Neowise X Starlink
r / starlink pic.twitter.com/BaJTLgtqkg
– José Garza (@stuntech) July 24, 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/OTyGY2B71L – Raul C Lima (@raulclima) July 20, 2020
Three Starlink satellites pass Comet Neowise from Highpoint’s panoramic view on Friday night! #Starlink #neowise #spacex pic.twitter.com/uoTNyKztxH – Kyle Henry (@kyle_LTS) July 19, 2020
Hello @elonmusk, your #starlink ruined my #neowise time lapse. ☹️ # astrophotography #comet #cometNEOWISE @SpaceX pic.twitter.com/gBbsPCDtUH – michael chomieniec (@LoneVagabondLA) July 22, 2020
My best guess is that this was #Starlink 1075 that passed through my field of view at 11:00 pm … supposedly magnitude 6.3. Just one of the many sats that plagued my images. @ jaimecor_94 pic.twitter.com/xGT91RuMji – Mark A. Brown (Starguy) (@SSA_Mark) July 23, 2020
#Starlink Satellites ruined my #astrophotography night while filming #NeowiseComet #cometNEOWISE tonight. THANK YOU @elonmusk for ruining my hobby, I support everything else you are doing, but not this. pic.twitter.com/kqbcK8hrpd – Mike Oitzman (@oitz) July 18, 2020
Comet C / 2020 F3 (NEOWISE) and Starlink # ネ オ ワ イ ズ 彗星 #NEOWISE #STARLINK #Stellarium pic.twitter.com/nKTCteHTHQ – RZ Makise (@ makkisse999) July 22, 2020
I’ve been there, done that
This is not the first time that Starlink and its founder, Elon Musk, have been criticized by the astronomical community. In fact, when the first two Starlink satellites were launched, many of the members had talked about the possibility of these bright satellites interfering with their photographs, as well as the simple discovery of a new object in the sky.
Musk had gone on to assure them that he and his team are solving the problem to ensure that these satellites that provide high-speed Internet do not interfere with their work.
Starlink satellite train visible in the night sky seen in this video captured by Marco Langbroek satellite tracker in Leiden, The Netherlands, on May 24, a day after SpaceX launched 60 Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket. the picture: Marco Langbroek via SatTrackBlog
On the eighth launch of the Starlink mission, the satellites had been equipped with what they called VisorSat That would act as a set of dark shadows that can prevent the sun from reflecting off the bright parts of each satellite. The visors turn and block the sun, avoiding reflections. Musk said the VisorSats would have a “massive effect” on the brightness of the satellites.
He said the goal is to make satellites invisible to the naked eye and minimize their impact on astronomy with a focus on ensuring that any drawbacks they pose do not hinder scientists’ ability to make new discoveries.
There are currently more than 422 Starlink satellites in orbit over Earth, in an effort to deliver high-speed Internet by 2021 under Space’s Starlink mission. The satellites are planned to go live once 800 satellites have been activated, which is still a few launches away.
And although Elon Musk is the first, he is definitely not going to be the last. Jeff Bezos’ Amazon has already stated that they are working on a Kuiper Project that will launch 3,236 satellites into space to provide the internet. There are many other companies vying for that piece of the pie and it remains to be seen how astronomers will have to deal with these rotating internet providers and whether there will be any government regulation on this matter.
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