Satellite plague in Brittheim: Astronomers fight for light pollution!

Satellite plague in Brittheim: Astronomers fight for light pollution!

in Brittheim, where passionate astronomers observe the night sky, a "satellite plague" causes excitement! The Starlink satellites of Elon Musk illuminate the sky with its striking light strips and disturb the precise measurements of the Zollern-Alb observatory. Rolf Bitzer, the chairman of the observatory, urgently warns: what looks fascinating for many has devastating consequences for astronomy.

The unsuccessful solution

SpaceX had promised to paint the satellites in black to reduce the light reflection. But the reality looks different: Bitzer demonstrates that even a black object remains clearly visible under light. The Starlink satellites shine with a brightness that is comparable to the polar star, and this is still a big problem for the sensitive measuring devices of the observatory.

The European space agency ESA reports from over 13,230 satellites in the earth orbit, and SpaceX plans to increase this number to over 34,000. Other providers such as Amazon and China are also pushing into space with their own satellite constellations. While the satellites are visible in the morning and evening when they are in the sunlight, they quickly disappear into the earth's shade. The risk of collisions in space grows, and the astronomers have to adapt to the new reality - often with software that removes the disturbing lines from the pictures. Ironically, the observatory in Brittheim is currently there without the Internet, which makes the Situation even more complicated.