Mastodawn

Pamela Barroway – Biz Editor Apr 27

@mastodonmigration That's really something else seeing it like this, and not in a good way. 😡

@sundogplanets

Mastodon Migration Apr 27

@PamelaBarroway @sundogplanets

Yes. It is really stunning. We are blinding ourselves.

alpha1beta Apr 27

@mastodonmigration @PamelaBarroway One (Nazi) billionaire, ruining an entire planet's view so he can have more money than God. What a awful shitlord.

Pamela Barroway – Biz Editor Apr 28

@alpha1beta @mastodonmigration 🎯 Emo can fuck right off. 🤬

alpha1beta Apr 28

@PamelaBarroway @mastodonmigration Hopefully into the sun.

I should work at SpaceX...my math could be just a *tiny* bit wrong

Pamela Barroway – Biz Editor Apr 28

@alpha1beta @mastodonmigration 😈

jn (eepy low energy)Apr 27

@mastodonmigration @sundogplanets it's deeply cynical that one of the major culprits calls itself "Space Exploration Technologies Corporation"

@mastodonmigration @sundogplanets ok don't get me wrong: satellites pollution is a big problem and people should be made aware of it.

But as an astrophotographer I know that the software we use are very good at removing them, usually without rejecting the whole frame.
This picture has been processed specifically to emphasize the problem, which is a tidy bit misleading even if for a good cause.

Amateur astronomy is not the problem with swarms of satellites.

Will still share it.

@corpsmoderne @mastodonmigration @sundogplanets

deneb Apr 27

As a scientist who did process data from various professional telescopes, I know that you can hide these trails and still make "nice" pictures. But I also know that by doing so you degrade the signal, and when what you are looking for is at the detection limit (it usually is, otherwise you would not waste precious telescope time on it), it can introduce artifacts or hide valuable info.

@deneb @mastodonmigration @sundogplanets oh 100% . I was strictly speaking about amateur astronomy, I'm sure it's a very different problem in professional astronomy. But the picture above belong to the amateur kind of photography.

@corpsmoderne @deneb @mastodonmigration There is no software that removes the satellites from your eyeballs. This is a huge problem.

@sundogplanets @deneb @mastodonmigration it is indeed. I'd have no problem at all if the caption had said "this picture has been processed specifically to emphasis this huge problem".

(and you can't see DSO's or comets this clearly without software though)

taking the opportunity of this interaction to say that I appreciate and support your actions on this topic.

https://mamot.fr/@corpsmoderne/114766991498681464

@sundogplanets @deneb @mastodonmigration ( also, I did try to do my humble part too...)

Josh May 4

@sundogplanets When you can't even stare up at the night sky without being reminded of the liberties billionaires take with our world, something is very wrong.

Leonardo Fontenelle Apr 27

@mastodonmigration @sundogplanets for an instant, I thought the post would be about mansplaining

@leonardof @mastodonmigration SpaceX: mansplaining the night sky since 2019

Klaudia (aka jinxx)Apr 27

@mastodonmigration @sundogplanets @Susticle That's what I meant the other day ...

Jürgen 𐐘 Apr 27

@mastodonmigration @ichwillechtnurlesen @sundogplanets Looks like a sewing pattern. But I found the comet.

Schroedingers_Cat Apr 27

@mastodonmigration @sundogplanets I can find the comet. But that is not the point - this is major level pollution of our skies.

Something that is more and more of a problem, because there are so few places left where you can get a decent view of the sky because of ground pollution, and are accessible, so that amateurs and kids and families can actually see the sky as it really is, and get excited about astronomy.

But even these places are now being polluted by LEO satellites.

Qybat Apr 27

@mastodonmigration @sundogplanets Why do the satellites blink?

@Qybat @mastodonmigration That's probably the reset time between several second-long exposures that were added together.

SolidHeron Apr 27

@mastodonmigration @sundogplanets that has to be a sunset/sunrise phenomenon. If it was the middle of the night the sun would be behind the Earth and the satellites would be in shadow unless they're really low on the horizon

@Cattail @mastodonmigration From some latitudes, from some times of night. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/ac341b/pdf

Engelbert Schnauzi Apr 27

@mastodonmigration
@sundogplanets

not doubting at all, just curious, why do the stars not turn into stripes as well? does it take longer than 10 minutes for this to happen?

i know very little about astronomy 😅

@mastodonmigration @sundogplanets

Matt Apr 27

@flaubau The satellites are in low earth orbit so they zip by pretty fast. Judging from the lights on the ground, the exposure won't have been more than a couple of minutes, not enough to show the earth's rotation as stars moving in circles as on those ultra-long exposures.
Edit: another post of the same pic says it's a 10min exposure.

Mer-fOKxTOwl Apr 27

@menos @flaubau @mastodonmigration @sundogplanets when zooming in a lot the stars seem to be slightly elongated, mostly in the axis from the bottom right to the top left.

legionsofbob Apr 27

@flaubau @mastodonmigration @sundogplanets not sure if it's what was used in this case, but there's star tracking mounts for long exposures to avoid that. I used to work with a very enthusiastic amateur who took some great and less great photos 😄

Engelbert Schnauzi Apr 27

@legionsofbob
@mastodonmigration @sundogplanets

woah interesting! thanks a lot!

J.L. 1285 Apr 27

@mastodonmigration @sundogplanets Oh, what a tangled web we weave.

@mastodonmigration @sundogplanets

Tomcat Apr 27

Irgendwie...
Ich beobachte ja auch öfter den Himmel.

Aber eine Satellitenspur quer durchs Bild mit der gleichen Farbe und Helligkeit kommt mir irgendwie sehr gephotoshopt vor.
Da oben ist inzwischen wirklich zu viel los - danke Elon - aber schneeweiß, mit gleicher Helligkeit vom oberen Bildrand bis zum Horizont - oder umgekehrt - kann ich mir nicht vorstellen.

Aber vielleicht sollte ich mir den Begleittext zum APoD mal genau durchlesen bevor ich meckere. 🫣

@mastodonmigration @sundogplanets

gclef Apr 27

Look out, it's a Tholian web! 🖖🏼

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tholian_Web

#StarTrek #TholianWeb

The Tholian Web - Wikipedia

danielHL Apr 27

@gclef @mastodonmigration @sundogplanets You beat me to that!!!1eleven!1!! Nice!

Tajuyan Tachyon Apr 27

@mastodonmigration @sundogplanets
Great photo!
I’m guessing it’s about 40 stacked images, each with an exposure time of about 15 seconds and a 1-second interval between exposures—that explains the streaks from the satellite trails. So the total exposure time is about 10 minutes. Is that right?
What I don’t understand is why the trails appear in parallel bundles—how does that happen?

Maria Langer | 📝🛥️💎Apr 27

@mastodonmigration @RalphBassfeld @sundogplanets Software can remove the trails. And this is a multiple exposure image.

Thomas Mutscheller Apr 27

@mastodonmigration @eWalthert @sundogplanets outrageous indeed…