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Thanks SpaceX! You ruined this amazing NEOWISE comet photo with your satellites

by 19 Comments

In an attempt to enable high-speed internet all over the world, SpaceX has launched 540 Starlink satellites into orbit so far. The planned number is 12,000, but they’re already ruining the party for astronomers and astrophotographers alike. Daniel López recently tried taking a photo of the comet Neowise, but Starlink satellites ruined it completely.

 

Daniel shared the photo on his Facebook page which shows the comet Neowise and Starlink satellites interfering with his view over it. He was photographing the comet with the Canon Ra and a 200 mm lens and stacked photos to get more detail. “It’s a shame to see all those light points pass, in total almost 20 images of the comet show traces,” Daniel explains.

The photo he shared is 17 photos of 30 s exposure stacked together, which is why we see so many traces. There would be fewer traces if the photo was taken as a single exposure, but this doesn’t solve a problem. First, some of the traces would still be visible. And second, this makes photo stacking impossible if you want to have a clear view of the sky.

Speaking with Earther, Daniel said that “astronomers, astrophysicists, and astrophotographers are concerned about the great deployment of small satellites orbiting the earth.”

“Now they want to launch some 40,000 [satellites] later, other companies will want to launch their own into orbit, and the sky will not be what it has been for millions of years. Thousands of dots will appear and disappear in the night sky.”

After the concerns and complaints, Elon Musk announced that SpaceX plans to dim future satellites so that the impact on the night skies is reduced. Still, the satellites that have been launched so far remain bright and keep ruining the view for everyone shooting and researching the sky above us.

Make sure to check out more of Daniel’s work on his website, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.

[via Earther]

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  • Bannerdog

    VERY misleading.
    Yes, it is a serious problem.
    However, the image shown is a composite of all of the worst photos.
    He could just as easily have shown an image with NO interference.
    The article also didn’t indicate whether there were any satellites that have not reached their final orbit.
    Such satellites are more problematic.
    As existing satellites reach orbit, and satellites with protective visors are launched, the problem may decrease (though the sheer number of satellites may be a problem).
    Another point not mentioned: SpaceX is under NO legal obligation to mitigate the problem.
    They are doing so – putting visors on satellites – voluntarily.
    There is a definite need for ground-based telescopes.
    They complement space-based telescopes quite well.
    And, several exciting cutting-edge ground based telescopes will be operational in the coming years.
    Eventually, however, large space-based telescopes, perhaps on the moon, may supplant them.

  • Mark Hike

    There is software you can use the REMOVE the streaks when you combine the photos, not ADDING them. This person does seem to have an agenda to have such a misleading photo published.

    • LambertH

      The fact that there is a NEED to remove the streak is the fundamental problem. These satellites a noise sources which will impact any number of ground based obeservations

      • Metaman

        By that argument, meteorites, airplanes, the ISS, clouds, the moon and the sun are problems. I was successful in shooting the comet last week, caught a meteorite trail in one and an airplane in another, both of which I excluded from the stack (although I could just as easily have masked the trail out). The moon was also a problem earlier in the evening as it reflected off a light haze of clouds. I didn’t catch a train of Starlink satellites nor the ISS, although both would have been interesting to include in the frame.

        • LambertH

          So if you are gathering spectral data from a region of the sky that these things pass though you just have to accept pollution of your data. Is that your position? Sure if all you want is pretty pictures you can cope with this noise relatively easily (though I don’t see why photographers should have to). But there’s more to making pretty pictures in studying the sky.

          Let’s not also forget that these are just the first few hundred of the thousands of planned for satellites . Why should this one rich fool get to pollute ours skies at his whim?

          Would you be troubled if you had to cross a trench in your lawn, dug overnight by Dig-X Corp., in order to get to your car?

        • Simo

          would love to see your photos of the comet if you would show us please

  • Doc2222

    Won’t be long before some greedy pig corporatist figures out how to project his company logo onto the surface of the moon……

  • The trouble is I kind of like the shot as is the space x satiltes make great geometric patterns

  • Bjarne Winkler

    Very misleading.
    First of all, this is the only photo of the Comet and the satellites that I have seen, whereas I have seen a ton of photos of the Comet without satellites.
    Second, why are we not talking about software that can remove the issue, like it removed air traffic in the same type of photo?
    This dude has an agenda that has nothing to do with Photography, but since we live in a free world, then he has all the rights, just always remember there are two sides to any story.

    • Wayne Makka

      Don,t worry soon you,ll be able to take a Space X rocket, to the Space X viewing platform orbiting the earth , and you can stay in the Space X hotel too, Space X bringing you the Stars

  • Mr. X

    GTFOH. The photographer went out of his way to capture this image exactly the way it is. He wanted attention and he sure got it. Any amateur astronomer could easily avoid these satellites with minimal effort.

  • It’s beautiful!!!

  • Tesla gold bullshit company.

  • we have enough photos of the sky already. get over it.

  • Clark Mills

    I’m sure I can see several other streaks running transversely across the image that aren’t Starlink related. Also the fact that the Starlink satellites are packed together in a train exposes the fact that they are on route to their final orbit and that they haven’t dispersed evenly around the orbit.

    I don’t doubt the image’s authenticity but it’s just a lucky strike, catching it at the right time of dawn/dusk. Waiting another 30 min. should have sorted that but I guess the image impact wouldn’t be so striking or newsworthy.

  • paines_ghost

    I have seen hundreds of Neowise photos without the Starlink streaks. As many have said, this is very misleading!

    There are many people that live in rural and other underserved areas where Internet bandwidth is woefully inadequate. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when many are working from home for being schooled from home. There is no other technology on the horizon other than LEO satellites that will alleviate this. This is more than an inconvenience for them, this is a social injustice.

    Mr Lopez – I suggest you buck up and don’t be a “Karen”!

  • Looks awesome!

  • Steven

    I wonder how hard it would be to create a procedural filter to remove these trails? In theory if the stack is large enough there should be enough data to identify that the satellites are in the shot and to remove them with a single checkbox click. It appears, in the shots that I have seen, to be a consistent pattern. Its not just satellites, but also any aircraft flying through your shot that could be a problem.

  • arkhunter

    Maybe it made a boring photo better? There’s also some other streak going the other way (and a small meteor?)

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