Satellites by SpaceX & Others are Photobombing Hubble Telescope's Stunning Images of the Cosmos - Astronomy Under Attack
The passing satellites pose a threat to the Hubble Space Telescope’s captured imagery as they end up photobombing the pictures.
It was found that by the 2030s one third of Hubble’s images will be spoiled by passing satellites and could be trashed.
The companies such as SpaceX have launched over 3,000 satellites as part of its Starlink constellation, contributing to the problem.
The photobombing of telescope imagery can hamper the work of numerous astronomers as the streaks end up blocking valuable information about the distant galaxies and stars they are studying.
Removal methods can sometimes help, but they don't always work, and the proportion of imagery damaged due to passing satellites is expected to increase in the next five years.
Jonathan McDowell Astronomer at the Harward-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said "There will be science that can't be done.
There will be science that's significantly more expensive to do. There will be things that we miss."
It was found that one third of Hubble’s images could be trashed by the 2030s, & telescopes may have to leave low-Earth orbit as a result.
Elon Musk, SpaceX’s CEO, suggested that astronomers move telescopes to higher orbit to bypass the issue.
Moving telescopes to orbit above all the other satellite traffic could be the only solution, but it is not possible for current telescopes in lower Earth orbit or spacecrafts that governments are building and launching in the coming years.
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