An Emerging Risk To #RadioAstronomy 📡
Using a prototype SKA-Low instrument, a new analysis from the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) has detected Starlink signals leaking into protected radio bands.
Radio frequency interference from Starlink not only spans the narrowband intended emissions, but also broadband unintended emissions too, coming from propulsion and avionics.
This RFI is unregulated and affects key science goals.
Starlink appears in ~30% of all sky images.
This new study, from Dylan Grigg at Curtin University, is not the first to study the impacts of Starlink on #RadioAstronomy, but is the largest of its kind, and quantifies how this type of radio frequency interference - that comes from above - will impact the mega-science SKA project.
My latest piece for #SpaceAustralia
https://www.spaceaustralia.com/news/emerging-risk-radio-astronomy
📸 Astro_Work 🔭 (supplied) / Griggs et al. 2025