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What are some of the potential consequences of this? I’m curious if stars getting photobombed is a signal pointing to a greater issue? If they can coat them in

What are some of the potential consequences of this? I’m curious if stars getting photobombed is a signal pointing to a greater issue? If they can coat them in a way to not be reflective then will most astronomers be satisfied?

falcolas 6y ago
The greater thread has some data on the latter point - the latest satellites are coated, but it's not had much impact yet. Seems like this is light pollution taken to a completely new level.
- elliekelly 6y ago
  I remember reading Musk had to get permission from some US regulator (the FCC and/or FAA maybe?) in order to launch these satellites but is there any sort of international body that deals with this?
  - gpm 6y ago
    To a first approximation it's just the FCC, but the FCC does listen to and evaluate issues pertaining to light pollution, space debris, satellites falling to earth and landing on peoples heads, and so on despite that not being related to radios.
- bryanlarsen 6y ago
  SpaceX has abandoned the coating approach and is going with a shade approach, which works even better. The next set of satellites all have the shade.
pmontra 6y ago
We will exchange white lines for black lines. We won't be able to see through the satellites. Actually maybe a white line is simpler to remove than a black one on a black background.
- jacknews 6y ago
  exactly, paint them green
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- gpm 6y ago
  Presumably exchanging white lines for transparent lines not a color. For larger projects which don't move around this can be augmented further by removing known satellite tracks instead of lines, or even not imaging areas when satellites are going to be there.
- sp332 6y ago
  Black lines are far preferable because they do not contribute to the total amount of light collected. A momentary flash from a bright light can swamp the sensor, but a brief moment of blackness will leave the pixels' state much less disturbed.
  - Kye 6y ago
    This is why long exposure photographs of roads have light trails with no cars.
zaarn 6y ago
Any good astronomy imaging tool will remove temporary satellite flashes without much effort, provided you take a lot of exposures. If you naively stack them you get this of course.
ardy42 6y ago
> If they can coat them in a way to not be reflective Less reflective. I don't think there's a way to make them not reflective, and many, many astronomical objects are very dim.
- webmaven 6y ago
  > > If they can coat them in a way to not be reflective > Less reflective. I don't think there's a way to make them not reflective, and many, many astronomical objects are very dim. Vantablack[0] would probably be adequate for the timescales involved, at least for most terrestrial[1] observations: [0] https://www.sciencealert.com/this-object-has-been-sprayed-with-the-world-s-blackest-pigment-and-it-s-freaking-us-out https://www.sciencealert.com/this-object-has-been-sprayed-wi... [1] eg. I can easily imagine a similar but more severe problem for a lunar farside observatory if (when?) Starlink is expanded to provide internet coverage for the Moon's surface. Of course, the main reason for a farside observatory would be shielding from Earth's RF emissions, so just people needing and wanting internet access on farside is probably going to be a problem first.

falcolas 6y ago

The greater thread has some data on the latter point - the latest satellites are coated, but it's not had much impact yet. Seems like this is light pollution taken to a completely new level.

elliekelly 6y ago
I remember reading Musk had to get permission from some US regulator (the FCC and/or FAA maybe?) in order to launch these satellites but is there any sort of international body that deals with this?
- gpm 6y ago
  To a first approximation it's just the FCC, but the FCC does listen to and evaluate issues pertaining to light pollution, space debris, satellites falling to earth and landing on peoples heads, and so on despite that not being related to radios.
bryanlarsen 6y ago
SpaceX has abandoned the coating approach and is going with a shade approach, which works even better. The next set of satellites all have the shade.

pmontra 6y ago

We will exchange white lines for black lines. We won't be able to see through the satellites. Actually maybe a white line is simpler to remove than a black one on a black background.

jacknews 6y ago
exactly, paint them green
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
gpm 6y ago
Presumably exchanging white lines for transparent lines not a color. For larger projects which don't move around this can be augmented further by removing known satellite tracks instead of lines, or even not imaging areas when satellites are going to be there.
sp332 6y ago
Black lines are far preferable because they do not contribute to the total amount of light collected. A momentary flash from a bright light can swamp the sensor, but a brief moment of blackness will leave the pixels' state much less disturbed.
- Kye 6y ago
  This is why long exposure photographs of roads have light trails with no cars.

zaarn 6y ago

Any good astronomy imaging tool will remove temporary satellite flashes without much effort, provided you take a lot of exposures. If you naively stack them you get this of course.

ardy42 6y ago

> If they can coat them in a way to not be reflective Less reflective. I don't think there's a way to make them not reflective, and many, many astronomical objects are very dim.

webmaven 6y ago
> > If they can coat them in a way to not be reflective > Less reflective. I don't think there's a way to make them not reflective, and many, many astronomical objects are very dim. Vantablack[0] would probably be adequate for the timescales involved, at least for most terrestrial[1] observations: [0] https://www.sciencealert.com/this-object-has-been-sprayed-with-the-world-s-blackest-pigment-and-it-s-freaking-us-out https://www.sciencealert.com/this-object-has-been-sprayed-wi... [1] eg. I can easily imagine a similar but more severe problem for a lunar farside observatory if (when?) Starlink is expanded to provide internet coverage for the Moon's surface. Of course, the main reason for a farside observatory would be shielding from Earth's RF emissions, so just people needing and wanting internet access on farside is probably going to be a problem first.