Taking beautiful cosmic images, the Hubble Space Telescope orbits around the Earth. It is not only Hubble that is flying around the Earth, but thousands of satellites in low orbit are flying at the speed of one week for 90 minutes. And it is said that this satellite is interfering with observations. It is said that things like Starlink and Oneweb satellites leave traces like drawing horizontal lines on observation images. Scientists even say that it is a threat that shakes the existence of astronomy.
Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Earth Physics and others conducted a survey related to Hubble Space Telescope images and satellite images. 100,000 images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope were checked with the cooperation of 10,000 citizen scientists. A deep-learning algorithm that learned to distinguish whether a satellite was taken rather than a natural phenomenon such as a planet was also used.
As a result, satellite copies were found in 3.7% of Hubble images taken between 2009 and 2020. In 2021, it was found to increase to 5.9%. As the number of artificial satellites increases, satellite radiation from Hubble Space Telescope images is expected to increase further in the next 10 years, so it is pointed out that more in-depth research and monitoring are needed in the future.
However, the investigation itself ended in 2021. Now, two years later, the increase in satellites must have made the Hubble image worse. One expert points out that astronomy will be greatly affected by this problem, and that scientific activities that will become impossible or cost significantly will come out.
It is also possible to process satellite imagery using techniques such as filtering. According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), even if the satellites are taken, most of them can be used for investigation. However, it is difficult to say that it is ideal if it takes unnecessary cost or time.
While astronomers also submit petitions to the United Nations, some satellite manufacturers use materials with low reflections that are difficult to capture in images. SpaceX is also making several attempts, such as using black paint to reduce reflection. In addition, since the Starlink satellite is flying above the Hubble flight altitude, it is said that a plan to increase the Hubble altitude itself is also being considered between NASA and SpaceX. Related information this placecan be found in
