Apparently unintended radio waves from Starlink satellites which are in danger of blinding ground-based radio telescopes, reports Science.
The radio emissions from the second generation of Starlink satellites, which are at a much lower frequency than the bands used by the satellites to communicate and deliver internet services, are up to 30 times higher than from the first generation, and 10 million times brighter than the dim astronomical sources which are being studied using ground based telescopes such as LOFAR.
Astronomers fear that, once SpaceX has launched tens of thousands of satellites it may be impossible for ground-based radio telescopes to find an area of the sky to observe which is not contaminated.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Sign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.