The Problem With Satellite Trails

A new technique could aid Hubble Space Telescope users, but the problem will get worse for observatories on Earth by Rameen Skiba. Teaming swarms of these satellites threaten to gradually transform the night sky and affect how astronomy can be done. For example, a small piece of sunlight shed by a satellite could appear in a telescope image like a glaring star. Unless an astronomer can also measure the light pollution from low-Earth-orbit objects, they might be fooled.