Report suggests ways to avoid satellites ruining

telescope images but ‘there is no place to hide’

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August 25, 2020

A report warns that fleets of new communication satellites in low-Earth orbit will spoil some
astronomical observations, even if all known mitigation strategies are taken.
NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/P. Marenfeld

By Daniel CleryAug. 25, 2020 , 6:40 PM

Astronomers and the operators of new, thousands-strong constellations of low-orbiting

satellites will have to work together to prevent them from having a devastating impact
on ground-based observations of planets, stars, and other celestial objects, says a report
released today. Even then, there is no escaping some harm from the fleets of commercial
orbiters. “All optical and infrared observatories will be affected to some degree,”
astronomer Anthony Tyson of the University of California, Davis, said at a briefing on
the report. “No combination of mitigation will eliminate their impact,” added
astronomer Connie Walker of the U.S. National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research
Laboratory.

The report is the product of a virtual workshop that brought together 250 astronomers,
engineers, and satellite operators in late June and early July. The satellites, designed to
provide internet access in remote areas, now number in the hundreds. But following the
launch of the first batch by SpaceX in May 2019, astronomers were alarmed by how
bright they appear in the sky. If all the planned constellations go ahead, the number of
satellites will grow beyond 100,000. Observatories, already sited in remote locations to
avoid light pollution, will have no way to avoid their effects, Phil Puxley of the
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy says. “There’s no place to hide.”

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Since last year, there have been a number of independent studies of constellations’
possible impact. But the workshop’s report is the first time the satellite companies and
those who would be affected, from astronomers to the agencies that fund them and
their telescopes, have pooled their results and worked out a strategy for the future.

Once SpaceX’s first Starlink satellites reached orbit, astronomers quickly realized the
upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile, set to begin operations next year, would
be worst affected. With its combination of a wide field of view and sensitive 8.4-meter
mirror, “It’s a perfect machine to run into these things,” says Tyson, the project’s chief
scientist. The satellite trails are very bright and out of focus slightly, so they’re wide and
cover several pixels on images taken with a test version of the Rubin Observatory’s
camera, he notes. “It complicates data analysis and reduces discovery.”

Other observatories will likely be less affected but the report from the workshop, known
as Satellite Constellations 1, said telescopes that need to work during twilight will also
run into problems. Because the satellites are in low orbits, they will often be seen close
to the horizon and will be most visible when they are still in sunlight but the observer is
not. Searches for asteroids that potentially threaten Earth and fast-changing
astronomical phenomena, such as visible signals from gravitational wave events, often
must operate in those conditions.

If, however, satellite operators choose orbits above 600 kilometers, the situation gets
worse because then their spacecraft are visible for more of the night, and in summer, all
night long. One operator, OneWeb, planned to use 1200-kilometer orbits. Although the
company filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, plans are afoot to revive it. According to
Patrick Seitzer of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, if OneWeb launches its full
47,000-strong constellation, then every 30-second exposure of the Large Magellanic
Cloud, the largest satellite galaxy around our Milky Way, would have at least one
satellite flare in it.

The workshop participants made a number of recommendations to reduce the impact of

constellations, including keeping orbits below 600 kilometers, darkening satellites, or
controlling their orientation in space to reduce reflections (something SpaceX is already
testing). Astronomers should also develop software tools to remove satellite trails from
images, and the companies should make accurate orbital data available for their
orbiters so telescopes can try to avoid them. The only measure the report could offer to
totally eliminate the damage to astronomy was to launch fewer or no low-orbiting
satellites—likely not an option given the financial investments the companies are
making in the constellations and the lucrative market they foresee.

Tyson and his colleagues have been working with SpaceX engineers to modify their
satellites to reduce their brightness. “We have explored all of the parameter space
allowed by physics,” he says. “Now we have to work out which is the most effective.” His
team has also modeled trying to steer the Rubin Observatory telescope to avoid passing

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satellites, but Tyson says there are simply too many. “It gets jammed. You can’t avoid
them.” Astronomers are already actively pursuing image processing solutions but, he
says, “the jury’s out,” on how much that can help.

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