UArizona faculty and students are part of an international study confirming that deployed satellites like BlueWalker 3 are as bright as the brightest stars seen by the unaided eye and pose a challenge for ground-based astronomy.
UArizona faculty and students are part of an international study confirming that deployed satellites like BlueWalker 3 are as bright as the brightest stars seen by the unaided eye and pose a challenge for ground-based astronomy.
University of Arizona researchers are part of an international study confirming that deployed satellites like those that provide broadband internet and mobile phone service are as bright as the brightest stars seen by the unaided eye.
The finding could pose challenges to astronomy as nations and companies launch more and more satellite megaconstellations – large networks of bright satellites – into space. The research was published online today in the journal Nature.
"The proliferation of satellite megaconstellations will have a profound impact on ground-based astronomy. Sunlight reflected by these satellites will leave trails on the images taken by existing and upcoming ground-based surveys such as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile, making it challenging to do astronomical research," said Vishnu Reddy, professor of planetary sciences at the university's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and director of the Space4 Center, who is one of the authors of the Nature study.
Read more at University of Arizona
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