"It's getting harder and harder for the Hubble and other telescopes orbiting Earth to capture pristine images thanks to the sudden surge in satellite launches. Satellite trails could mess up nearly 40 percent of images the Hubble takes and up to 96 percent of those taken by three other telescopes over the next decade, according to a study by NASA researchers published today in the journal Nature. That could jeopardize scientists' ability to spot worrisome asteroids or discover new planets,"
"Our view of space just gets fuzzier without efforts to limit light pollution from new megaconstellations of satellites. The scale of the problem is astounding "My career has been focused on trying to make telescopes see better ... try to make the telescopes more sensitive, more precise, getting better images," says Alejandro Borlaff, a NASA research scientist and lead author of the study. "For the first time, we found something that may actually""
Orbiting telescopes such as Hubble face rising interference as a surge in satellite launches creates trails and light pollution that degrade image quality. A NASA study projects satellite trails could affect nearly 40 percent of Hubble images and up to 96 percent of images from three other telescopes over the next decade. The increased contamination risks scientists' ability to detect hazardous asteroids and discover new planets. Without measures to limit light pollution from megaconstellations, the clarity and sensitivity gains in telescopes will be undermined and observations will become significantly fuzzier.
Read at The Verge
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]