Satellite interference is no longer a minor annoyance for astrophotographers and skywatchers, it’s becoming a major problem.
For astrophotographers and casual skywatchers alike, satellite streaks are becoming one of the biggest new headaches in the night sky. What used to be an occasional surprise in a long exposure is now showing up more and more often, cutting through images of comets, nebulae, star fields, and even simple wide-angle sky shots. Spaceweather.com says thousands of Starlink satellites are already in orbit, with far more planned, while Amazon’s Project Kuiper and China’s proposed Guowang and Qianfan constellations could add many thousands more to the mix.
That means the challenge is not going away anytime soon. In fact, for anyone who loves photographing or simply enjoying a dark, natural sky, this may become one of the defining astronomy issues of the coming years. Because of that growing impact on observers, Spaceweather.com has launched a new Starlink Statistics tracking page and says it plans to expand coverage to other megaconstellations as they become more important. See it here: https://www.spaceweather.com
Have you noticed more satellites crossing the night sky lately, or is it not affecting your observing/astrophotography yet?
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