At 330 miles from Earth, a commercial satellite shines brighter than most stars, threatening astronomers’ data collection from the sky.
The magazine noted,The Washington PostThe American newspaper pointed out that the satellite will be launched in 2022 by Texas-based company “Space Mobile” and will be called “Blue Walker 3” for better mobile phone service across continents.
But according to a study published this week in the journal Nature, the satellite is considered one of the “10 brightest objects in the sky.”
“This satellite is among the 10 brightest objects in the sky, taking into account the Sun and the stars,” said study co-author Siegfried Eagle. “It’s incredible.”
The study continuously measured the satellite’s brightness over 130 days, and pointed out that “its problem lies in its sheer size,” as its antenna array can reach about 64 square meters. light towards the earth and makes it very bright.
Eagle pointed out that this strong luminosity “affects the work of astronomers because it hinders the data collection process and obscures objects located near Earth.”
Each “Starlink satellite” is 10 times brighter than astronomers expected, he said.
He also explained that there are “current efforts to address similar problems represented by satellites” launched by SpaceX, owned by businessman Elon Musk.
SpaceX plans to launch about 40,000 satellites in the coming years.
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