Scientists warn: the congestion of satellites may reduce our understanding of space
Satellites are increasingly obstructing the Hubble probe's field of view (hubblesite.com)
Researchers have long paid attention to the impact of satellites on our view of the universe, not only from Earth, but also in space
Scientists have issued a warning that the huge number of satellites in space is causing new problems for their research.
Researchers have warned that new satellite packages being launched - such as SpaceX 's Starlink - fill the sky with lights that impede Earth observations from space. A number of astronomers expressed concern about what might happen to space research as a result of this rapidly growing number of such objects on Earth.
Scientists explained that satellites impede the work of observing space from the ground, to the extent that the data is unusable by them, which constitutes a waste of money spent on space monitoring, in addition to the need to devise new ways to see the sky.
But astronomy experts have found, through new scientific research, that these satellites are causing problems in observations, even from space.
Scientists have expressed concerns about what they consider to be the first evidence that satellites are negatively affecting Earth-orbit observations provided by images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
By reviewing those images taken by Hubble between 2002 and 2021, they found that 2.7 percent of observations - with a typical observation time of 11 minutes - are obstructed by satellites leaving traces of their passage on the images.
In addition, the proportion of images intercepted by satellites is increasing over time.
The authors of the new study wrote in their paper that "with the increasing number of satellites planned at the present time, the percentage of images observed by the" Hubble Space Telescope "and penetrated by satellites in space will also increase in the next decade, which will require more follow-up. and careful monitoring.
In addition, despite the researchers' focus on the Hubble Space Telescope, the problem may negatively affect the work of other similar observatories in low Earth orbit, such as the CHEOPS or NEOWISE telescopes.
They pointed out that future telescopes, which have wide fields of view, may face certain problems. The "Chinese Space Station" is preparing a new telescope known as "Xuntian", which has a vision of space that is about 300 times greater than the field of view of the "Hubble Space Telescope".
These warnings of astronomers, which were included in a paper titled "The impact of satellite trails on Hubble Space Telescope observations," were published in the journal Nature Astronomy. Astronomy Research].
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