English

Starlink Generation 2 Mini Satellites: Photometric Characterization

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics 2023-06-13 v1

Abstract

Starlink Generation 2 Mini satellites are fainter than Gen 1 spacecraft despite their larger size. The mean of apparent magnitudes for satellites in brightness mitigation mode is 7.06 +/- 0.10. When these magnitudes are adjusted to a uniform distance of 1,000 km that mean is 7.87 +/- 0.09. The brightness mitigation mode reduces distance-adjusted satellite luminosity by a factor of 12 relative to spacecraft that are not mitigated.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2306.06657,
  title  = {Starlink Generation 2 Mini Satellites: Photometric Characterization},
  author = {Anthony Mallama and Richard E. Cole and Scott Harrington and Andreas Hornig and Jay Respler and Aaron Worley and Ron Lee},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2306.06657},
  year   = {2023}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T11:02:15.752Z