Category: Space

New Humanist (2 July 2024)

7/3/2024

Cleaning up the cosmos

Experts have proposed various methods to dispose of existing orbital debris, such as using nets to capture junk, or harpoons and other satellites to help de-orbit dead satellites, but nothing has been implemented on the scale that would be needed were Kessler Syndrome to become a reality. “Nobody really that I’ve seen has any plans for what to do if that scenario develops, in terms of rapidly getting that debris out of orbit,” says John Barentine, principal consultant at Dark Sky Consulting. “It’s scary stuff but it’s not science fiction.”

0 Comments

WIRED (6 October 2023)

10/10/2023

1 Comment

Amazon Is Going to Fill the Sky With Satellites. Astronomers Aren’t Happy

“BlueWalker was a shock to us as to how bright it was. We are also very worried about the impact to radio astronomy,” since one of its downlink frequencies is next to a protected radio band at 42.5-43.5 gigahertz, says John Barentine, one of the study’s coauthors and a conference attendee. A Tucson, Arizona-based astronomer, he is also the executive officer of Dark Sky Consulting, which advises companies and government officials on outdoor lighting to preserve dark night skies.

1 Comment

WIRED (13 June 2023)

6/17/2023

0 Comments

Satellites Keep Photobombing Space Images. Astronomers Need a Fix

The Rubin collaboration has expressed concern about the possibility of false alerts thanks to light reflecting off of satellites or space junk in orbit and has warned that as many as 30 percent of its images could be affected by satellite streaks. For example, a glint of sunlight off a small piece of insulation shed by a satellite could appear in a telescope image like a flaring star. Unless an astronomer can also measure the light's spectrum, they might be fooled, says John Barentine, a Tucson, Arizona, astronomer who recently authored a study about light pollution from low Earth orbit objects.

0 Comments

Media Appearances

New Humanist (2 July 2024)

Cleaning up the cosmos

WIRED (6 October 2023)

Amazon Is Going to Fill the Sky With Satellites. Astronomers Aren’t Happy

WIRED (13 June 2023)

Satellites Keep Photobombing Space Images. Astronomers Need a Fix

Media

Archives

Categories

Media Appearances

New Humanist (2 July 2024)

​Cleaning up the cosmos

WIRED (6 October 2023)

​Amazon Is Going to Fill the Sky With Satellites. Astronomers Aren’t Happy

WIRED (13 June 2023)

Satellites Keep Photobombing Space Images. Astronomers Need a Fix

Media

Archives

Categories

Cleaning up the cosmos

Amazon Is Going to Fill the Sky With Satellites. Astronomers Aren’t Happy