Technology and media ,
Feb 06, 07:33
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AJL study: SpaceX satellites interfere with the search for potentially dangerous asteroids
SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, which have become numerous, do not allow astronomers to take high-quality images and may interfere with the search for potentially dangerous asteroids. This is stated in research scientific journal Astrophysical Journal Letters, published January 14.
So, scientists studied the influence of Starlink satellites on about 300 thousand images taken by astronomers at the Palomar Observatory in Southern California. Between November 2019 and September 2021, they noted a 35-fold increase in corrupted images. “For comparison: In 2019, 0.5% of twilight images were affected, and now this figure has increased to 20%,” said Przemek Mroz, lead author of the study.
According to researchers, as of November last year, more than 1.6 thousand Starlink satellites were in low-Earth orbit. In total, the company received permission to operate 12,000 satellites and applied for another 30,000 satellites.
According to University of Washington astronomer Eric Bellm, reflected streaks of sunlight could make it harder to find potentially dangerous asteroids. “There’s definitely a kind of planetary defense aspect here,” he said.
“Satellites can interfere with terrestrial observations, increasing the difficulty of differentiating artificial satellites from natural objects such as asteroids and comets,” confirmed The Wall Street Journal spokesman for NASA.