Astronomy

4101 readers

16 users here now

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

Sal@mander.xyz

130

Starlink is increasingly interfering with astronomy, scientists say (www.semafor.com)

submitted 3 months ago by return2ozma@lemmy.world to c/astronomy@mander.xyz

21 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] PennyRoyal@sh.itjust.works 15 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It’s not the only problem with them, and potentially not the biggest either - there is no plan to remove or maintain them when they die other than de-orbiting them into the upper atmosphere. A recent study suggests that this will critically harm the ozone layer, and that adding metallic particles in the quantities implied by the number of starlink satellites that Elmo plans to launch could do far more damage to the ozone layer than our previous attempts to screw it up!

Article - https://www.sciencealert.com/satellites-like-starlink-could-pose-new-threat-to-our-healing-ozone-layer

Study - https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024GL109280

[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 months ago

Yeah, aluminium oxide particles may be a problem. Some scientists are experimenting with replacing aluminium with wood. I wonder if this would be feasible on future Starlink sats.