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SpaceX launched 52 more Starlink satellites to orbit on Saturday
- ncr100 5y agoThe night sky cries tears of light, until the vehicles are promoted to an operational orbit. Nifty tracker shows the handful of low-orbit (not operational) trains. https://starlink.sx/ https://starlink.sx/
- aeternum 5y agoIt's amazing that this constellation will likely soon beat terrestrial fiber optic cables even in terms of data latency. We can now deploy a planet-wide communication network with minimal human effort compared to the millions of hours of human manual labor required to install the first telegraph and telephone networks.
- wellthisisgreat 5y agoIs there a reason why satellites have to emit light? The sky pollution from these is incredible. We won’t be able to see starry sky soon.
- zardo 5y agoThey don't emit light, they are bright when the satellite is sunlit against the night sky.
- wellthisisgreat 5y agoAh i see, thank you. So I guess nothing can be done and we are approaching the end of the starry sky as we know it
- thatguy0900 5y agoWhy is this downvoted, it's correct, right? Surely more than one company will have a satellite network, at that. Stars are already gone, to a large extent.
- Asraelite 5y agoThat only applies to dawn and dusk. In the middle of the night satellites don't get illuminated. They can still be a small problem for telescopes then, but you won't notice them with the naked eye.
- genericone 5y agoThe solar panels are only reflecting light during the 'moving up to orbit' phase of the launch. After a few weeks the solar panels will be tilted in a different direction, no longer casting bright streaks in the night sky.
- thatguy0900 5y agoCould you solve this with some kind of vantablack esque covering? Would that cause heat issues or something?
- bhhaskin 5y agoThat is exactly what they have done. It cuts down quite a bit.
- 5y ago