Every astronomer who complains about satellite streaks has heard the same response from techbro-types: "Why don't you just put all your telescopes in space?"
There are an incredibly large number of reasons why that is totally not going to work. But here's another from Borloff et al "Satellite megaconstellations will threaten space-based astronomy"
@sundogplanets hello greetings
Should be: "Satellite megaconstellations will threaten **earth-orbit**-based astronomy"
Though a view from Luna should still be clear for a while longer.
bruh, that’s as realistic as expecting a pickle to do the cha-cha. scientists wanna observe the stars, not play Tetris in orbit. stay grounded, fam!
@sundogplanets
So we solve global warming by blocking out the sun with crashed satellite debris 🤷
@sundogplanets tech bros get away saying shit like that because they have disciples, real, fake "AI powered" and worse in corporate & new media who boost their messages without an ounce of critical thinking and always conveniently not doing their usual "both siding".
@sundogplanets It feels similar to the effect above ground nuclear weapons testing has had on carbon dating very old organic material - it's not possible to be accurate due to the radio noise left over.
Who knows what long-term mark an explosion of satellites will have on things (besides trapping us from going into space safely, or interfering with earthbound astronomy, which are happening right now)
You mean, like the tech bro who’s busy working to figure out how to make access to space impossible?
I will count humanity lucky if their own space junk carves out a giant gaping hole in one of their own precious networks, large enough to take them out of business.
@sundogplanets "If all FCC filings result in launches, Earth would be orbited by half a million artificial satellites by the end of the 2030s" this is so depressing
The accompanying News & Views piece "Even in space, satellites photobomb telescopes" by @merrdiff.bsky.social is excellent!
Here's a lovely space-based telescope image, with 560,000 satellite friends. Thanks, techbros.
@sundogplanets @merrdiff.bsky.social
Ugh, terrible.
While the difference in result is obvious, can you elaborate on what conditions the left photo was taken under compared to the right one? Shorter exposure with different telescope? Taken in the past? or just a cleanup of the right photo? Thanks
@sundogplanets Honestly, we need to start pulling things down. Either that, or randomly shoot something into space to create a Kessler cascade.
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