InnerworldNumber of satellites (2026)
I went camping this past weekend and I couldnβt look up at night without immediately seeing multiple satellites wandering around. It was cool as a kid when I saw my first Iridium satellite, but the current state of affairs feels like we have ruined the sky.
π π°π’π«π±π¦π’π«π± ππ¦π’π π’ π¬π£ π π₯π’π’π°π’I was under the impression that these constellations would only be visible to the naked eye during deployment and after reaching their final orbit, would not be visible anymore.
Some constellations are more visible than others. For example, βSatellite Constellations Exceed the Limits of Acceptable Brightness Established by the IAUβ: arxiv.org/abs/2507.00107
This figure is from the paper. Everything above the green line is visible to the naked eye.
Satellite Constellations Exceed the Limits of Acceptable Brightness Established by the IAU
Brightness statistics for satellites of the Starlink, BlueBird, Qianfan, Guowang and OneWeb constellations are reported. The means and standard deviations are compared to acceptable limits set by the International Astronomical Union's Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky From Satellite Constellations Interference. Nearly all these spacecraft exceed the magnitude 7+ brightness limit pertaining to interference with professional research. Most also exceed the magnitude 6 reference where they distract from aesthetic appreciation of the night sky.
This is depressing. We shouldβve made that shit illegal.