DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Astrophotographers, this is how Starlink satellites will affect the night skies

May 30, 2019 by Dunja Djudjic 38 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

On 23 May, the first 60 SpaceX’s Starlink satellites were successfully launched into orbit. They were caught on camera and they look spectacular while orbiting around the Earth together. However, the ultimate plan is to launch nearly 12,000 of these satellites. Have you wondered how it will affect the night skies? Astronomers are concerned that they will pollute the night sky, and astrophotography is only one of the areas that could be hindered by this many satellites in the orbit.

While they were gliding together around the Earth, the satellites were bright and clearly visible to the naked eye. However, astronomers are concerned that 11,943 of satellites this bright will change the view on the universe. Darren Baskill, an outreach officer of physics and astronomy at the University of Sussex, told The Verge:

“It’s going to become increasingly likely that the satellites will pass through the field of view and essentially contaminate your view of the Universe, and it’s going to be really difficult to remove that contamination away from our observations.”

Put simply, astronomers use very long exposures to take photos through their telescopes. This way they can gather and study light from distant galaxies. Now imagine a super-bright object going through the frame during a long exposure. It would leave a streak of light that would take up a large portion of the image. Of course, the same thing would happen even if you do astrophotography for the sake of art, not science.

Bruce Macintosh of Stanford University estimates that the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope will “likely have to deal with between one and four Starlink satellites in every image within an hour or two of twilight,” National Geographic writes. “For astronomers I think this is more of a nuisance than a disaster, but changing the sky for every human needs talking about,” he recently tweeted.

For astronomers I think this is more of a nuisance than a disaster, but changing the sky for every human needs talking about. https://t.co/H5RjFIIZz0

— Bruce Macintosh (@bmac_astro) May 26, 2019

According to the most recent report from the European Space Agency, there are about 5,000 satellites in orbit around Earth. Around 2,000 of them are still operational, and even they occasionally pose a problem for astronomers. If that number increases for another 12,000 satellites, it could cause serious light pollution in the night skies, causing headache to both astronomers and astrophotographers.

Elon Musk has responded to these concerns, saying that he would direct his team to think about how to reduce the Starlink satellites’ reflectivity. However, as National Geographic notes (and I tend to agree) – this is something we should think about before putting the satellites into orbit.

[via National Geographic, The Verge; image credits: SpaceX]

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Astronomers worried as SpaceX’s Starlink satellites ruin their observation of the night skies Elon Musk plans to dim the Starlink satellites to reduce light pollution in the night sky Default ThumbnailA Neat Trick For Balancing Fire And Night Skies In Light Painting This video shows a spectacular view of the SpaceX Starlink satellite train

Filed Under: news Tagged With: Astrophotography, space photography

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.net

About Dunja Djudjic

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

« Ricoh denies rumors that it will stop using Pentax brand name
Lowepro’s new Photo Active backpacks are built for outdoor adventure and travel photographers »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Learn photography

Recent Posts

  • Samyang adds 100mm T2.3 to its compact autofocus cine prime lineup
  • Build your own DIY night vision camera with a Raspberry Pi
  • This adorable LEGO retro camera set hits the stores soon
  • Here are the cameras that shot Flickr’s best images
  • Meta AI image generator Imagine gets its own website

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy