New satellites are messing up our night sky

winniman wrote:
I like how anyone who has any concerns about the new 5g system coming instantly needs a tinfoil hat. The fact that they are rolling it out without any testing should concern everyone. Being able to send a selfie from the stadium isn't that important. At least not to me. Whats the hurry anyway.

Not sure why 5G has anything to do with low orbit satellites. Maybe you should start a new topic.

But since you brought it up, the millimeter wave that the high performance 5G uses is actually safer than the current frequencies and there has been tons of testing. The frequencies that 5G uses are non-ionizing and does no damage to human cells. It actually penetrates less than the lower frequencies currently used for 4G.

Nikon D850, 16-35mm f:4 lens at 16mm & f:4, 31 seconds & ISO 2500.

Jon, I just looked at the full size version of the shot and noticed something odd. The streaks are brighter on the left side of each streak, as if the sats had moved at a steady rate during most of the exposure and had then "paused" during the last few seconds. Not possible, I know, but I am at a loss to explain the phenomenon.

I have seen meteors that cause a similar terminal flare, but those are true flares -- the meteor gets suddenly brighter at the end of its path through the atmosphere. That is not what is going on in that shot, I am sure.

A mystery!

(And that looks to be an exposure of about ten seconds, judging by the plane. With an ISO of about 6400? No electronic noise that I can see, despite the ISO -- well done!)

Freedom of information in every corner of the world could improve many people's lives.

profdant139 wrote:
To me, dark skies are one of the main benefits of boondocking in remote territory -- it's a lot of work to get there, but the stars are astonishing.

So this article is depressing -- apparently, Elon Musk's new sat network is unusually reflective:

Article

I can probably edit out the "sat trails" from my star photos, but I am not happy.

But the good news is we will have awesome internet every where once all the satellites are up..

:B

Jon, if your camera was pointed toward the west, those sats are moving from north to south, apparently in some sort of a formation? I say that because of the precisely staggered positions of the streaks.

I'm guessing you were facing west because Orion (upper right corner) is past the meridian and getting ready to set, which is what it does during the late evening in late February.

Just a guess, though.

(And have you noticed how dim Betelgeuse has gotten? Maybe we will witness a supernova??)

I like how anyone who has any concerns about the new 5g system coming instantly needs a tinfoil hat. The fact that they are rolling it out without any testing should concern everyone. Being able to send a selfie from the stadium isn't that important. At least not to me. Whats the hurry anyway.

I was at the Imperial Dam LTVA last week and took a few night sky photos. While I have no proof that Musk's satellites are in the picture, in years of taking star photos, this is the first time I've seen the short streaks. The long diagonal streak is an airplane.

A full size jpg of the image is here. (7.4MB)

Phil,

Not melt. Burn up.

Phil,

Not melt. Burn up.