At the end of June , more than 250 astronomer , engineers , planet operators , and other stakeholders attended SATCON1 . This was a practical meeting to talk about the mega - constellation of downcast - Earth domain satellite ( LEOsats ) and how they will affect the night sky .
Areportnow details the take of these mega - constellation , while also propose solution to minimize their impact on galactic observations , inexpert astrophotography , and the general enjoyment of the night sky .
“ If the 100,000 or more LEOsats proposed by many companies and many governments are deployed , no combining of mitigation can fully fend off the impacts of the satellite trails on the science programme of current and planned ground - establish optic - NIR astronomy facilities,”the report states . “ Astronomers are just beginning to understand the full range of impacts on the subject area . Astrophotography , amateur uranology , and the human experience of the stars and the whitish Way are already affect . ”
The urgency of this meeting is due to the launch of over 650 planet by Elon Musk ’s SpaceX since May 2019 . The Starlink constellation , as it is called , has affected astronomic observations from the get - go , concerning many scientists about what the full constellation and other proposed LEOsats would do to the sky .
The reputation offer several options to tackle the issue . The obvious choice is to end the hurt to ground - base astronomy by not found the mega - constellations . If politicians are not willing to curb or baffle the launching , then it is preponderant that these satellites impact observations as little as possible . This means they should be at low altitude ( less than 600 kilometers/370 Roman mile ) , darken , and circumvolve to reflect as slight sunlight as potential .
Even under these conditions , they will still impress twilight observance key for the discovery of dangerous asteroids , as well as the hunting for out solar organisation target and the seeable - light twin of gravitative undulation sources .
The SATCON1 team also put forward recommendation for lookout , such as theVera Rubinand the coming Extremely Large Telescope , to help them get hold ways to eliminate satellite trails or depend at other regions of the sky . This postulate knowing precisely where the satellites are going to be and how they will move .
These hole are both piece of work - intensive and expensive and have many people demanding that the mitigating approaches be paid by the individual companies putting these satellites up . They make the problem , it should n’t be up to publically funded lookout station to figure out it , they say .
“ Our squad at the AAS was enthusiastic to collaborator with NOIRLab and bring representatives of the astronomic and satellite community together for a very fruitful exchange of ideas , ” AAS President Paula Szkody , from the University of Washington , said in astatement . “ Even though we ’re still at an early stage of discernment and address the threats posed to astronomy by large satellite constellation , we have made good progress and have plenty of reasons to hope for a positive upshot . ”
A second shop , SATCON2 , that tackles upshot of insurance policy and regulation is await to happen in the first six months of 2021 .
