Starlink satellites on a murky night

[Rick]

...and Amazon are, apparently, getting in on the act, too.

See topic here: http://forum.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/index.php?topic=12100.0

[Fay]

I am simply beyond  amazement that this has all been allowed....... has there been any opposition?  Have not heard a peep. how can we wish for darker skies when all this lot are ruining the skies forever. also do they pose a danger to spacestation  etc etc?

Fay

[Rick]

There has certainly been opposition, especiall from professional astronomers. Google something like "starlink protest" and you'll find some. However, unlike things like light pollution from streetlights, this is all being caused by a few big companies with bases primarily in the USA, and they don't listen much (if at all) to opposition from elsewhere. TBH, they don't even listen much to any protests from within the US.

[Rick]

Here's an interesting side-view from El Reg...

What would you prefer: Satellite-streamed cat GIFs – or a decent early warning of an asteroid apocalypse?

Swarms of small communications satellites saturating space may make it more difficult to observe and track potentially hazardous asteroids zooming toward Earth, astronomers have warned.

A report [PDF] out this week compiled by the Satellite Constellations 1 (SATCON1) committee outlined the repercussions of the growing number of metallic birds in low-Earth orbit (LEO) on astronomy.

The high reflectivity of these satellites ruins images of the night sky, as far-away objects are covered by bright streaks leftover from the passage of the satellites. The effect was noticed as soon as SpaceX flung its first constellation of 60 internet-relaying satellites into the heavens last year. That number has steadily risen to 655 as of this month. And with tens of thousands more on the way, the astronomical community is racing to come up with solutions to minimize their impact on science.

More: https://www.theregister.com/2020/08/27/satellite_constellation_astronomy_warning/

[Rick]

This video clip was shown during the Global Meteor Network meeting on Saturday last. It shows a Starlink re-entry as captured by an astronomy live-stream in Japan a week or so ago.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJJUz5amEGE&t=677s

[Rick]

This noght-long time-lapse from a UKMon camera was posted on twitter because, apart from a lot of cloud, the one event most obvious in it is a stream of recently launched Starlink satellites at around 52 seconds in...

https://twitter.com/UKMeteorNetwork/status/1662141546463105024

I've also seen videos where a patch of sky gets covered in twinkles as a bunch of Starlink satellites reflect the Sun towards the observer. All ways to make astrophotography trickier.