sundogplanets ,
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social avatar

Watch this satellite obliterate the Kuiper Belt object moving through this set of images.

The dumb satellite is so bright that our auto-detect software threw out the whole stack, because it destroyed the average brightness.

It pisses me off to no end that my taxpayer-funded telescope time is now less and less effective because of one for-profit private company.

(P.S. software dudes: please don't try to mansplain workarounds, believe me, a LOT of astronomers are working hard on this)

A gif of a Kuiper Belt object slowly moving across a set of images. It just looks like a fuzzy dot. Toward the end of the sequence, there's a super bright diagonal line that covers up the moving dot - that was a satellite.

mastodonmigration ,
@mastodonmigration@mastodon.online avatar

@sundogplanets

Thank you Prof. Lawler for your tireless work to put the horrendous issues associated with Starlink in front of the public. While we are on the subject we should also discuss the Kessler Syndrome.

Some evening not too long from now you may look up, and instead of the stars and the ubiquitous Starlink satellite trains marching along, you might see a night sky filled with brilliant sparkles. What's happened?

https://interestingengineering.com/science/kessler-syndrome-spacex-starlink-orbital-chaos

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mastodonmigration ,
@mastodonmigration@mastodon.online avatar

@sundogplanets

Well in their infinite stupidity the US government has granted Elon Musk's SpaceX permission to launch thousands of Starlink satellites into low earth orbit (LEO). These things are wizzing around up there trying to avoid crashing into one another, and with each new batch that becomes harder. Plus now the Chinese and Amazon are sending up their own satellite constellations. It's a massive traffic problem.

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mastodonmigration ,
@mastodonmigration@mastodon.online avatar

@sundogplanets

Kind of like airline traffic, only infinitely worse. If planes collide, the wreckage just falls to the ground. In space, one triggering event, either an accident or some intentional anti-satellite action and, like a room full of mousetraps and ping-pong balls, you get a cascading series of collisions which can take out everything leaving an unnavigable debris field for decades. And humanity is screwed. That's what we are playing with here.

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JoeQuinlan ,
@JoeQuinlan@mastodon.social avatar

@mastodonmigration @sundogplanets

From its inception, Nazis played an important role in the development of America's space program. Oligarch Musk is the direct descendant of Wernher Von Braun. Of course, Von Braun actually knew what he was doing, whereas Musk builds exploding rocket ships.

TheDailyBurble ,
@TheDailyBurble@mastodon.social avatar

@mastodonmigration @sundogplanets
Could send up a thing to grab all those unprotected orbiting resources. Must be tons of rare stuff up there by now.

NiaMolinari ,
@NiaMolinari@toad.social avatar

@mastodonmigration @sundogplanets

A trash ring around the earth. Gross.

mastodonmigration , (edited )
@mastodonmigration@mastodon.online avatar

@sundogplanets

If this thread has sparked your interest in the subject of Starlink space pollution. Here is a great article derived from an interview with Prof. Lawler:

Interesting Engineering: https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/worst-case-starlink-scenario-kessler-syndrome

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mastodonmigration ,
@mastodonmigration@mastodon.online avatar

@sundogplanets

Here is a good video that further explains the terrifying Kessler Syndrome potential:

Are We Too Late To Avoid Kessler Syndrome? >>> https://youtu.be/MmVW8f31vI8?si=V9bEn_GJ-rkjlW4I

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