(ORDO NEWS) — Astronomers on Monday warned that light pollution, caused by the skyrocketing number of satellites orbiting the Earth, is an “unprecedented global threat to nature.”
The number of satellites in low Earth orbit has more than doubled. since 2019, when US company SpaceX launched the first “mega-constellation” of thousands of satellites.
A whole armada of new Internet constellations is planned to be launched soon, adding thousands more satellites to the already overloaded one at an altitude of less than 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) above the Earth.
Each new satellite increases the risk that it will crash into another object in Earth’s orbit, creating even more debris.
This could set off a chain reaction in which cascading collisions create smaller and smaller fragments of debris, adding to the cloud of “space debris” that reflects light back to Earth.
Astronomers have warned that increasing light pollution threatens the future of their profession.
In one paper, researchers said they measured for the first time how much a brighter night sky would affect the operation of a major observatory from a financial and scientific point of view.
Simulations have shown that for the Vera Rubin Observatory, a giant telescope currently under construction in Chile, the darkest part of the night sky will become 7.5% brighter over the next decade.
This would mean cutting the number of stars the observatory can see by about 7.5 percent, study co-author John Barentin told AFP.
This will add nearly a year to the observatory’s research, which is worth about $21.8 million, AFP said. Barentine of Dark Sky Consulting, a firm based in the US state of Arizona.
He added that there is another cost of a brighter sky that cannot be calculated: celestial phenomena that humanity will never see. .
And the increase in light pollution could be even worse than imagined.
Other Nature used extensive modeling to suggest that current measurements of light pollution greatly underestimate this phenomenon.
“Stop this attack”
Brightening the night sky Researchers have warned that this will affect not only professional astronomers and large observatories.
Aparna Venkatesan, an astronomer at the University of San Francisco, said it also threatens “our ancient relationship with the night sky.”
“Space is our common heritage and ancestor. It connects us through science, storytelling, art, origin stories and cultural traditions – and is now under threat,” she said in a comment.
A group of astronomers from Spain, Portugal and Italy called on scientists to “stop this attack” on a natural night.
“The loss of the natural aspect of the untouched night sky for the whole world, even on the top of K2 or on the shores of Lake Titicaca or on Easter Island, is an unprecedented global threat to nature and cultural heritage,” the astronomers said in a comment to Nature .
“If left unchecked, this madness will get worse and worse.”
The astronomers called for a drastic restriction on megaconstellations, adding that “we should not dismiss the possibility of banning them.”
They said it was “naïve to hope that the explosive growth of the space economy will limit itself.” unless forced to do so,” given the economic interests at stake.
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