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Bright satellites are disrupting astronomy research worldwide

A team of amateur and professional astronomers has determined that a satellite one-third of the size of a tennis court is one of the brightest objects in the sky — with dire consequences for ground-based astronomy.
  1. Samantha Lawler

    1. Samantha Lawler is in Campion College, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan S4S 0A2, Canada.

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The night sky is changing, with batches of human-made, moving ‘stars’ being added every week. Urban light pollution has masked this change from many people1 — but not from astronomers and stargazers, who are painfully aware of the increasing number of bright satellites in the sky. These objects can be seen around the world, regardless of which country operates them, because they remain sunlit long after the sky has grown dark. Writing in Nature, Nandakumar et al.2 report that one of the newest satellites, BlueWalker 3, outshines all but a handful of the brightest visible stars. It exemplifies how, without stronger regulation, satellites could substantially change the view of the night sky worldwide (Fig. 1), and severely jeopardize future use of Earth’s orbit for science, communication and space exploration.

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Nature 623, 917-918 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03610-5

References

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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