Space Telescopes Are Now Overwhelmed by Satellite Trails
A new study reveals that over 73% of images captured by NASA's SPHEREx space telescope are being contaminated by satellite light trails. These artificial streaks are interfering with scientific data collection, posing a growing challenge for orbital astronomy.
Why it matters
The proliferation of satellite megaconstellations is increasingly obstructing space-based observation, threatening the future of deep-space research and astronomical imaging.
Unfortunately there’s more bad news to report on the clear skies front. A new paper, available in pre-print on arXiv from researchers at NASA’s Ames Research Center, reports that 73.3% of images the agency’s new SPHEREx space telescope collected between May and September of last year were contaminated by at least one artificial satellite trail. And it’s only going to get worse from here.
The article reports on scientific findings regarding light pollution without taking a political stance on the satellite industry.
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