Starlink And Its Impact On Astronomy
On Monday, January 6th, 2020, another SpaceX Falcon 9 blasted off from Cape Canaveral, carrying another 60 Starlink internet communications satellites, bringing the full size of the constellation to 180.
With just three launches, SpaceX becomes the largest satellite operator in the world. But the company is just getting started. They’re planning to do this again every couple of weeks during 2020, bringing the total number of satellites in the constellation to about 1440, which is enough to provide high-speed internet services to the United States and parts of Canada. Shortly after launch, as the satellites are raising their altitude, they’re clearly visible to the eye as they streak across the sky in a close train.
Astronomers aren’t happy.
Watch the video here:
I had a fun Open Space livestream on Monday. If you missed that, you can watch it here:
Comments (3)
You talked about how low-orbit satellites can destroy radio telescope instruments just by being too loud for them. Is this an inherent limitation of such sensitive detectors, or is that something that future instrument designers could account for and cap the signal strength reaching the sensitive components?
Nice video, hopefully people start having more contemplative conversations on the topic, or at least the noise reduces in volume.
Yeah, I'm going to be sad about having to pull Starlink trails out of my photos, but I'm not going to prevent people from accessing the internet.