Mastodawn

#astrodon #astronomy #astrophysics #space #science #environment #sustainability

ESO 3d ago

In the future, we might see one million more satellites in Earth's orbit. The consequences to astronomy would be devastating.

Fighting for a fair and sustainable usage of space, for astronomy and humanity — that's Betty Kioko's job as ESO’s Institutional Affairs Officer.

Learn more about her job and what ESO is doing in this direction: https://www.eso.org/public/blog/betty-kioko/

ESO 6d ago

A new solar system in the making?

Last year, astronomers detected a newborn planet orbiting the star WISPIT 2. After another object was identified near the star, ESO’s Very Large Telescope and the VLT Interferometer confirmed that this was another planet.

This is the second time that multiple planets have been directly observed forming around their host star.

📷 ESO/C. Lawlor, R. F. van Capelleveen et al.

ESO Mar 23

The image was taken with the MUSE instrument at the VLT, which captures a spectrum at every single point within its field of view. In other words: it can image extended regions at thousands of different colours or wavelengths simultaneously, allowing astronomers to map the composition and motion of these regions in great detail.

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ESO Mar 23

The Triangulum galaxy up close 👀

Located about 3 million light-years away, this nearby galaxy was captured in the festive-looking image below with ourVery Large Telescope (VLT).

The colours represent different elements: blue, green and red indicate the presence of oxygen, hydrogen and sulphur, respectively. But there's more than meets the eye in this image... 1/

📷 ESO/A. Feltre, F. Belfiore, G. Cresci et al.

Besides the obvious impact on astronomical observations, damaging the night sky threatens to collapse nocturnal ecosystems and will impact humans too. We support submissions to the FCC by other astronomical organisations, and we will follow up the eventual responses from SpaceX and Reflect Orbital. 4/4

Reflect Orbital plans to use a constellation of space mirrors to reflect sunlight to Earth at night. Each beam would be four times brighter than the full Moon and would also contaminate areas outside the beam. Their planned 50,000 mirrors would make the night sky three to four times brighter. 3/

Space-X applied to launch one million satellites to act as data centres. Brightness estimates show that thousands would be visible to the naked eye, many more than visible stars. On average, each image with our Very Large Telescope would lose 10% of data due to satellite trails. 2/

Reflect Orbital and SpaceX have filed proposals with the US Federal Communications Commission that threaten ground-based astronomy. We submitted replies and collaborated with the UK Royal Astronomical Society & the International Astronomical Union for their responses. 1/