[Starlink] starlink and astronomy

[Michael Richardson <mcr@sandelman.ca>]

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https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220614.html
   Explanation: What are all those streaks across the background? Satellite
   trails. First, the foreground features picturesque rock mounds known as
   Pinnacles. Found in the Nambung National Park in Western Australia, these
   human-sized spires are made by unknown processes from ancient sea shells
   (limestone). Perhaps more eye-catching, though, is the sky behind. Created
   by low-Earth orbit satellites reflecting sunlight, all of these streaks
   were captured in less than two hours and digitally combined onto the
   single featured image, with the foreground taken consecutively by the same
   camera and from the same location. Most of the streaks were made by the
   developing Starlink constellation of communication satellites, but some
   are not. In general, the streaks are indicative of an increasing number of
   satellites nearly continuously visible above the Earth after dusk and
   before dawn. Understanding and removing the effects of satellite trails on
   images from Earth's ground-based cameras and telescopes is now important
   not only for elegant astrophotography, but for humanity's scientific
   understanding of the distant universe.

Catastrophies in astrophotography aside, I think that the picture may be
useful to people who want to explain how many satellites can be seen in the
sky at the same time.


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