With Better Communication, Astronomers and Satellites can co-Exist [Video]

SpaceX’s Starlink satellite system has been in the news lately for both good and ill. The “Mega-constellation” of around 2,800 satellites added another 53 satellites to its roster just last week. But while it might one day provide high-speed internet for the whole of humanity, it is already causing a massive headache for one particular slice of humanity – astronomers. Starlink satellites are reflective due to the solar panels they need to power themselves. 

This is particularly bad early in the evening and just before dawn, when the sun alights on these high-in-the-sky panels before the Earth itself is lit up. But so far, only naked-eye observations have tracked the satellites on their course through the sky, except for a team of students from the University of Arizona. They recently published a peer-reviewed paper on their collected data of a series of Starlink satellites using a home-grown sensor.

Starlinks are …