1 thought on “IAU Statement on Satellite Constellations | IAU”
See https://www.iau.org/news/announcements/detail/ann19035/ for the International Astronomical Union’s statement of concern. The picutre at ther top of that page is a ruined exposure by this first Starlink satellite launch.
Most people don’t realize that astronomical observations are long exposures. It’s not uncommmon to have the shutter open for 8+ hours to capture the details.
The only saving grace is from a given point on earth, satellites are only visible for ~1.5 hours after sunsent & before sunrise. Any long exposure optical photography will have the shutter closed at these times; the glow of the sun would ruin the shot.
Radio astronomy will have to deal with all this radio noise, too.
Here’s a summary of LEO satellites planned in the next 10 years:
See https://www.iau.org/news/announcements/detail/ann19035/ for the International Astronomical Union’s statement of concern. The picutre at ther top of that page is a ruined exposure by this first Starlink satellite launch.
Most people don’t realize that astronomical observations are long exposures. It’s not uncommmon to have the shutter open for 8+ hours to capture the details.
The only saving grace is from a given point on earth, satellites are only visible for ~1.5 hours after sunsent & before sunrise. Any long exposure optical photography will have the shutter closed at these times; the glow of the sun would ruin the shot.
Radio astronomy will have to deal with all this radio noise, too.
Here’s a summary of LEO satellites planned in the next 10 years:
Already in LEO: ~4,900 (includes Iridium's 82)Starlink: 12,000
OneWeb: ~2,500
Globalstar: 24
Project Kuiper: 3,236
Facebook Athena: ???
Total: ~22,660 satellites in LEO by 2030