Blog Archives

Reno Gazette-Journal (11 June 2021)

6/12/2021

SpaceX satellites soaring across the night sky have many wondering what they are

“Starlink is just one representative of a whole new class of what are being called satellite mega-constellations,” said Dr. John Barentine, the director of conservation of the International Dark-Sky Association. These mega-constellations are a group of satellites that fly together in some sort of formation.

“By the end of this decade there could be on the order of 100,000 functional satellites in orbit around the earth and that is more than a ten times increase in what there is now,” said Barentine.

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Smithsonian Air & Space (June 2021)

6/12/2021

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Orbital Debris Creates a New Problem: Light Pollution

Satellites have long been a nuisance for astronomers, since they periodically photobomb long-exposure images, appearing as streaks of light. This new study, however, uses a model to estimate the overall impact of orbiting objects. Researchers found that, collectively, this reflected sunlight has the same effect as ground-based light pollution by making it “difficult to see faint astronomical objects by lowering the contrast between objects and the sky itself,” says astronomer John Barentine, one of the study’s authors. But what makes it more worrisome is its geographic reach.

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NPR Here and Now (2 June 2021)

6/12/2021

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SpaceX Satellites Are A Problem For Astronomers

John Barentine, director of conservation for the International Dark-Sky Association, started thinking about the implications of having hundreds or thousands of satellites up in the sky at the same time after the first Starlink launch in May of 2019.

“In the next 10 years, we expect that the number of satellites orbiting the Earth will increase by more than an order of magnitude,” he says. “The Starlink program alone represents about 30,000 objects compared to the roughly 4,000 or so satellites that are in orbit around the Earth right now.”

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dot.LA (27 May 2021)

6/12/2021

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Could a New FCC Challenge Stop SpaceX's Starlink Launches?

John Barentine, director of conservation at the International Dark-Sky Association, told dot.LA there is still more work to do in understanding the dangers of SpaceX's work.

"We do not yet fully appreciate the variety and significance of hazards associated with the deployment of thousands of new satellites into Low-Earth Orbit (LEO), which is quickly becoming a crowded place," Barentine said.

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Media Appearances

Reno Gazette-Journal (11 June 2021)

SpaceX satellites soaring across the night sky have many wondering what they are

Smithsonian Air & Space (June 2021)

Orbital Debris Creates a New Problem: Light Pollution

NPR Here and Now (2 June 2021)

SpaceX Satellites Are A Problem For Astronomers

dot.LA (27 May 2021)

Could a New FCC Challenge Stop SpaceX's Starlink Launches?

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