respondents said that they felt there was an approaching threshold in terms of the number of bright objects orbiting the Earth at which their astrophotography would suffer irreparable harm. None of the respondents indicated they did not think such a threshold existed, but a few (14%) admitted that they did not know. For those who answered “yes” to the previous question, we asked them if they cared to venture a guess as to the size of the number. Responses to this question varied wildly, suggesting that the answers are no more than speculations. One respondent simply wrote that it was “very difficult to estimate”.
The last substantive question was free-response: “Please provide any comments/suggestions you have regarding large satellite constellations, including additional information you would like to receive, ideas for mitigating effects, etc.” We received six responses, reproduced here in their entirety:
Ban them !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Space could be for exploration and not for commercial use.
They are unneeded. In the 90s the Iridium needed less than 100 satellites to cover the world. Now there are 10s of thousands needed? Looks like the technology in 30 years went backwards.
The industry is unsustainable for many reasons.
Governments should impose a moratorium on all mega-constellations and negotiate an international framework to better regulate low orbit. It's a shambles and shouldn't be allowed to happen.
There has been an interesting discussion about aluminium oxide from burned satellites and their impact on the earth's albedo and thus global climate. We will be deploying tons of it in the atmosphere in the coming years. This should be a) regulated and b) part of the overall bill (counter /compensating measures). We also need a broader discussion in the general public about this side effect.
Every satellite needs a deorbit system. Also more analysts on the benefit to risk of having them.
From the survey responses, and in consideration of the small sample size and potential for selection bias, we conclude the following:
- Like amateur astronomers, astrophotographers report impacts to their work imposed by large satellite constellations, namely Starlink.
- Many astrophotographers see a future in which the number of relatively bright objects orbiting Earth will affect their work to the point that it simply cannot be done effectively anymore.
- They seem frustrated by the status quo, and several indicated clearly that they preferred a moratorium on launches or other steps to be taken to limit the number of objects in orbit.
- While we can’t say how representative these views are of all astrophotographers, the results largely mirror the privately expressed opinions of many astrophotographers related to us as anecdotes about impacts on their work.
