Astronomers call for urgent action on Starlink satellites from Elon Musk

The experts condemned the launch of Elon Musk's Starlink project, fearing that it will erase the night sky and make scientific research more difficult.

A network of 60 communications satellites was sent into orbit around the Earth aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on May 23.

The machine is the first in a planned fleet of 12,000 such objects, designed to provide high-speed Internet connections to individuals and businesses on the surface.

Researchers and other stakeholders used social media in the days following the launch to voice their concerns.

Now, an international panel of astronomers founded in 1919, which now has 13,527 members, has issued a warning against the waterfall.

They say that the Starlink project, and other similar projects, will lead to light pollution – in the form of trails that we can already observe from here on Earth.

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The Paris-based International Astronomical Union (IAU) issued this warning via a statement posted on the organization's website.

He highlighted two major concerns regarding these satellite relays and their impact on the observations of the universe underway on Earth.

It indicates that the surface of such satellites is often made of highly reflective metal. The sun's reflections before dawn and after dusk make them appear as slowly moving points in the night sky.

Most of these thoughts may be so weak that they are hard to pin down with the naked eye, experts say.

But they warn that they can harm the sensitive capabilities of large astronomical ground based telescopes.

Secondly, radio signals emitted by satellite constellations can threaten astronomical observations made using radio wave lengths.

Recent advances in radio astronomy – such as producing the first image of a black hole or understanding the formation of planetary systems – have only been possible through concerted efforts to protect the radio sky from interference.

In this statement, an IAU spokesman said: "Over the past decades, considerable effort has gone into the design, construction and deployment of satellites for important purposes.

"Recently, networks, known as satellite constellations, have been deployed and are expected in ever-increasing numbers, mostly in low Earth orbits, for a variety of purposes.

"We urge their designers and their deployers, as well as decision makers, to collaborate with the astronomer community in a concerted effort to analyze and understand the impact of satellite constellations."

"We also urge the relevant agencies to develop a regulatory framework to mitigate or eliminate the adverse effects on scientific exploration as soon as possible,

"We urge all players in this new, largely unregulated, space-use boundary to work collaboratively to their mutual benefit."

On May 29, astronomer Bill Keel of the University of Alabama told AFP that experts were already trying to determine the effects of the artificial constellation.

"In 20 years or less, for a good part of the night, anywhere in the world, the human eye would see more satellites than stars."

The brightness of the satellites then faded as they rose to their final altitude, about 550 miles (340 miles) above the Earth's surface.

This has not, however, completely appeased the concerns of the scientific community.

There is also concern that the impact of the night sky on night vision will occur when SpaceX increases the number of satellites in orbit over the next five years.

According to the Satellite Industry Association, there are currently 2,100 satellites in orbit around our planet.

SpaceX is not the only company wanting to enter the burgeoning Internet space market.

If the Musk company adds 12,000 additional satellites, there will be hundreds of them above the horizon at any time, "Jonathan McDowell, a researcher at the Center for Astrophysics, told AFP. Harvard Smithsonian.

This problem will be exacerbated at certain times of the year and at certain times of the night, he noted.

"It will certainly be dramatic in the night sky if you are far from the city and have a nice dark area." Dr. McDowell added:

"This will definitely cause problems for some types of professional astronomical observations."

Musk sent conflicting messages on Twitter in response to such concerns.

Despite reports that he had already taken steps to study ways to reduce the reflectivity of Starlink satellites, Musk also said that "Starlink will not be visible to anyone unless you look very closely."

The constellation of satellites "will have an impact of about 0% on the progress of astronomy" and we "must anyway move the telescopes into orbit," he added.

Although SpaceX is "very science-savvy", the work of giving "billions of economically disadvantaged people" high-speed Internet access through the Starlink network "is the greatest good". he writes.

Responding to Mr Musk's comments, Professor Keel said he was pleased that the SpaceX CEO had proposed looking for ways to reduce the reflectivity of future satellites, while wondering why the problem does not exist. had not been resolved yet.

If optical astronomers are concerned, their radio astronomy colleagues are "almost desperate," added Professor Keel.

Radio astronomers rely on the electromagnetic waves emitted by celestial objects to examine cosmic phenomena, such as the black hole imaged last month.

The so-called lateral emissions generated by the satellite operators can interfere with the bands of observation sought by the radio astronomers, if they are not sufficiently attenuated.

"There is every reason to join our colleagues in radio astronomy to ask for an answer" before ", said Professor Keel.

"It is not only about protecting our professional interests, but also, as far as possible, protecting the night sky of humanity."

Amateur astronomer Marco Langbroek has filmed dozens of miniature satellites from SpaceX's Starlink project and crossing their new orbit around the Earth.

In the video, filmed from the Netherlands, we see the satellites – which appear as a garland of consecutive lights – flying in the night sky a little more than a day after their launch.

A blog post by Dr. Langbroek detailed the excitement of the amateur astronomer as satellites entered the field of view of his camera.

"It started with two weak, flashing objects moving in the field of view," he wrote.

& # 39; Then, a few tens of seconds later, my jaw dropped when the "train" entered the field of view. I could not stop myself from shouting "OAAAAAH !!!!" (followed by some curses …). & # 39;

To time the satellite trip and get the video, Dr. Langbroek calculated that he had himself calculated the orbit of the instruments.

"There were no orbital elements for the objects available on Space-Track, but based on the orbital information (inclination of 53 degrees, initially at 440 km altitude), j & ### I had calculated a research orbit and was ready with my camera, "he wrote in a publication.

My search orbit has turned out to be not too bad: very close to the sky's trajectory and with objects that spend about 3 minutes earlier than expected on predictions. And what a SPECTACULAR view!

While Dr. Langbroek was preparing his camera for satellite viewing, other astronomers were not expecting the show, resulting in a wave of UFO statements.

After browsing the Dutch UFO website, www.ufomeldpunt.nl was inundated with reports.

"There is a long line of lights. Faster than an airplane. Huh? says a poster.

"Weird train of stars or lights moving across the sky at a constant speed," wrote another.

In a report published in Dutch, NOS, a witness stated that he feared that the lights would be an attack.

"I did not know what to think," said an eyewitness who saw the lights go off on The Hague, NOS reports. "Is Russia attacking America? Are they UFOs? I really did not know.