Astronomers fear SpaceX's 'Starlink' satellite internet service may hinder space visibility

[Polycount]

For those with spotty internet connections, SpaceX's upcoming "Starlink" satellite-based broadband system probably seems pretty appealing. The company has been making steady progress toward launching a wide array of internet-beaming satellites into Earth's orbit, and it seems like the team is on track to roll the service out to users sometime in 2020.

Unfortunately, while Starlink might be a fantastic boon for consumers, it's much less desirable from the point of view of an astronomer -- and these individuals have made their concerns clear on social media. Particularly, astronomers fear that the reflectivity of SpaceX's satellite may make it hard to see some parts of space with a telescope.

Though SpaceX has only launched about 60 test Starlink satellites for now, that number is supposed to reach 12,000 some day; at which point the satellites will form a "megaconstellation" around the earth. For the average person, this may not be much of an issue. But for the previously-mentioned astronomers, that's an awful lot of extra space junk to contend with as they examine the stars.

Fortunately, the issue -- though it will indeed exist -- may not be as bad as some fear. Astronomer Jonathan McDowell notes that Starlink's satellites, when properly oriented (with their solar panels facing the sun), are "significantly" fainter.

So the good news: it seems that once the Starlink sats point their solar panels at the Sun properly they are significantly fainter (more like mag 5 than mag 2). That is still brighter than we had expected and still a problem, but somewhat less of a sky-is-on-fire problem.

— Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) May 26, 2019

McDowell says their brightness is closer to "mag 5" (referring to "apparent magnitude," a brightness classification system used by astronomers) than mag 2. "That is still brighter than we had expected and still a problem, but somewhat less of a sky-is-on-fire problem," he added.

As for SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's take on the subject, he feels that while Starlink's overall mission would be worthwhile even if it caused some issues for astronomers and scientists, the company will "make sure" the service has "no material effect" on space discoveries moving forward. "We care a great deal about science," Musk said on Twitter.

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[wiyosaya]

"Mag 5" is at the limit of what can be seen with the human eye, and most telescopes are capable of detecting objects dimmer (some telescopes substantially dimmer) than that.

Here's a story/video on the effect, and it looks pretty bad - https://spaceweatherarchive.com/2019/05/29/starlink-satellite-flares/

Also, I have to wonder if these will eclipse areas of the sky as another potential problem. As telescopes get larger, their field of view becomes smaller - most of the time - with a few large scopes designed to have large fields of view. If a very large number of these satellites are zipping around, I wonder what interference it will bring even if SpaceX tries to mitigate the effects because they blot out areas of the sky - even if briefly.

Also, with some areas getting better wired service (including fiber), some areas getting cellular, specifically 5G, I have to wonder how much demand for this there will be. Remote areas, perhaps. However, IIRC, satellite phone service was not all that popular, perhaps the same thing will happen here.

Worst case,if the demand has been overestimated, then we could end up with a megaconstellation of space junk that in no way would be worth the interference with scientific efforts, IMO. Time will tell where Musk's scrambling for a real business will take him.

 

[mbrowne5061]

"Mag 5" is at the limit of what can be seen with the human eye, and most telescopes are capable of detecting objects dimmer (some telescopes substantially dimmer) than that.

Here's a story/video on the effect, and it looks pretty bad - https://spaceweatherarchive.com/2019/05/29/starlink-satellite-flares/

Also, I have to wonder if these will eclipse areas of the sky as another potential problem. As telescopes get larger, their field of view becomes smaller - most of the time - with a few large scopes designed to have large fields of view. If a very large number of these satellites are zipping around, I wonder what interference it will bring even if SpaceX tries to mitigate the effects because they blot out areas of the sky - even if briefly.

Also, with some areas getting better wired service (including fiber), some areas getting cellular, specifically 5G, I have to wonder how much demand for this there will be. Remote areas, perhaps. However, IIRC, satellite phone service was not all that popular, perhaps the same thing will happen here.

Worst case,if the demand has been overestimated, then we could end up with a megaconstellation of space junk that in no way would be worth the interference with scientific efforts, IMO. Time will tell where Musk's scrambling for a real business will take him.

The good news is, if the demand has been over-estimated, they modified the designed altitude to be lower. These satellites will need to be replaced more often as a result, so if the demand is not there, they can just let them fall back to earth within a few years, and not replenish the constellation.