StarLink

[FlashDrive (Poppy)]

......

[pmrid (Peter)]

I didn't see it but was told about it this mornigby a neighbour. He was mystified by my reaction. I told him about the difficulty of taking astro images but he still didn't get it. He thought Musk was pretty cool and doing something realy beneficial.

Go figure!

[xelasnave]

How much of the night do they interupt us?
Alex

[pmrid (Peter)]

Originally Posted by xelasnave

How much of the night do they interupt us?
Alex

Valid question.

It depends whether you're imaging or just enjoying the visual side of things. For my part, I am an imager and that means fairly long sessions with many long exposures. For an example, assume a single OSC session on one target with, say, 40 x 5 minute subs -a total of 3 1/2 hours or so; most people would aim for more - particularly if you are doing imaging with filters. Even if you are doing longer or shorter individual exposures, the total integration time is more or less the same. It would be 3 to 4 times greater if you are using flters. So for NB or LRGBimaging, factor in 10 hours or so of tital time - and possibly spread over multiple nights.

The chances of multiple satellite passes follows the same pattern. Of course, the more satellites there are, the more likely you are going to have to reject multiple exposures. That has become a very common experience for me these days.

The region of the sky also has a bearing. satellites tend to inhabit either polar or equatorial pathways so the more you try to image in those zones, the higher the proabaility of ruined subs.

I'm not a fan, I'm afraid. I see greed eroding the night sky.

[Nikolas (Nik)]

I dunno sigma kappa clipping seems to eliminate these trails pretty well

[xelasnave]

What I am not clear upon ..are they there all the time? the zenith at midnight would still be a problem.????...would there not be a window of shadow ?

Alex

[Shasta55 (Chris)]

Originally Posted by xelasnave

What I am not clear upon ..are they there all the time? the zenith at midnight would still be a problem.????...would there not be a window of shadow ?

Alex

Well I'm only 12 months into visual astronomy and I don't recall a single session where I did not have a satellite cross my FOV. I'd conservatively estimate about 3-4 per hour. They don't bother me and I haven't seen a "train" of them. IIRC there's currently about 3600 of them. But with another 12000 planned they will probably prove a distraction.



Together with other operators entering the "space" (Sorry ) I can imagine this thing becoming a massive issue for photography.

[Startrek (Martin)]

I was imaging M83 over 2 nights last week and Starlink satellites affected about 12 subs out of 250 x 60 sec subs ( Altitude 40 degrees up to 80 degrees) Pick them up on Stellarium app
I stacked them through DSS using the Kappa Sigma Clipping algorithm and the final stacked image eliminated them
DSS doesn’t handle the larger satellite trails and Aircraft trails etc…. that well , although post processing is another option too

For now it’s not much of an issue for me , 10 years time maybe a totally different story ??

Cheers
Martin

[Leo.G (Leo)]

How are the aliens ever going to get in and save us with all of this JUNK in the atmosphere?
I live forever in hope!

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

This steadily increasing problem will deffinitely become a genuinely serious issue and not just for the nievely trivial feeling that it's just a case of having to throw a few subs here and there by astrophotographers, just google a few assessments and studies, its not hard Oh and simply relying on kappa shchmappa blah blah and thinking it will be 10 years before its a real problem, is just not how it is...it's pretty sad really...nutin much we can do about it now either...

Mike

[Startrek (Martin)]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

This steadily increasing problem will deffinitely become a genuinely serious issue and not just for the nievely trivial feeling that it's just a case of having to throw a few subs here and there by astrophotographers, just google a few assessments and studies, its not hard Oh and simply relying on kappa shchmappa blah blah and thinking it will be 10 years before its a real problem, is just not how it is...it's pretty sad really...nutin much we can do about it now either...

Mike

Mike,
10 years might have been a bad call , retract and guess 5 years ??

Andy Warhol

[Boozlefoot]

Not to worry, the multitude of targeted satt's launched by PRC recently will deliberately and effectively block them out and bring a halt to this mania. A little forethought by such a reputed genius would have gone a long way. But let's avoid being political.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by Startrek

Mike,
10 years might have been a bad call , retract and guess 5 years ??

Andy Warhol

Hey, 2, 3 or 5, anyway you look at it, it's a worrying state of affairs...

Musk had to and will continue to have to, get approval for his mega groups of satellites, its the approval process that is antiquated and out of touch, they are allowing a billionaire to seriously affect low Earth orbit and our skies, perhaps forever...shame.

Others and other countries, will follow in Musks footsteps in due course, so it is all largely superfluous anyway, ...Musk is just the first on the road, that will soon become a freeway...

Mike

[astroron (Ron)]

( Quote Musk is just the first on the road, that will soon become a freeway...


To late Mike, Space has been a freeway since the start of the "Space Race"
It's been open slather to put up as much "Junk" as you like.
Even the big polluters adding more junk by blowing up their
own junk and each others satellites etc.
Cheers