Related papers: Brightness Characterization for Starlink Direct-to…
The rapid increase in satellite launches in recent years, and the pressure of launches planned into the next decade, demands an improvement in the efficiency of space domain awareness facilities. Optical facilities form an important…
On large telescopes trails of MegaConstellation's satellites will appears significantly defocused because of their relatively short distance. Because of such effect their apparent surface brightness will be, under a range of conditions,…
We present observations of 23 Starlink satellites in the $g'$ bandpass, obtained from the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory's Plaskett 1.8 metre telescope. The targets include a mixture of satellites with and without brightness mitigation…
This study evaluates the effect of proposed constellations -- ranging from current deployments to mega-constellations and very bright reflector concepts -- on direct trail losses, diffuse background, and scattered sky brightness. We use a…
Based on a large set of visual observations, the mean apparent magnitude of BlueBird satellites is 3.44, while the mean of magnitudes adjusted to a uniform distance of 1000 km is 3.84. Near zenith the spacecraft can be as bright as…
The apparent brightness of satellites is calculated as a function of satellite position as seen by a ground-based observer in darkness. Both direct illumination of the satellite by the Sun as well as indirect illumination due to reflection…
I discuss the current low Earth orbit artificial satellite population and show that the proposed `megaconstellation' of circa 12,000 Starlink internet satellites would dominate the lower part of Earth orbit, below 600 km, with a…
Megaconstellations of thousands to tens of thousands of artificial satellites (satcons) are rapidly being developed and launched. These satcons will have negative consequences for observational astronomy research, and are poised to…
A model that combines celestial geometry and atmospheric physics is used to calculate the dimming of artificial satellites as they enter and exit the Earth's shadow. Refraction of sunlight by the terrestrial atmosphere can illuminate a…
Photometric characteristics for all models of Starlink satellites launched to date are reviewed. The Original design that lacked brightness mitigation is the most luminous. SpaceX installed a sunshade on the VisorSat model which reduced its…
We report a simulation and quantification of the impact of the Starlink constellation on LSST in terms of the trail surface brightness using a BRDF-based satellite photometric model. A total of 11,908 satellites from the Gen1 and Gen2A…
We study the apparent optical brightness of satellite streaks in ground-based observatory cameras as the orbit height is varied. This is done via simulations. Several factors are in play: the range to the satellite, satellite size and…
The mean apparent magnitude and the mean of magnitudes adjusted to a standard distance are reported. The illumination phase function for OneWeb satellites is determined and it differs strongly from that of VisorSat spacecraft. Brightness…
The impact of large-scale constellations of satellites, is a concern for ground-based astronomers. In recent years there has been a significant increase in the number of satellites in Low-Earth Orbit and this trend is set to continue. The…
We present the $g'$-, $R_{\rm c}$-, and $I_{\rm c}$-band magnitudes and associated colors of the Starlink's STARLINK-1113 (one of the standard Starlink satellites) and 1130 (Darksat) with a darkening treatment to its surface. By the 105 cm…
The presence of a diffuse stellar component in galaxy clusters has been established by a number of observational works in recent years. In this contribution I summarize our results (Zibetti et al. 2005) obtained by stacking SDSS images of…
Measure the Sloan g' magnitudes of the Starlink's STARLINK-1130 (Darksat) and 1113 LEO communication satellites and determine the effectiveness of the Darksat darkening treatment at 475.4\,nm. Two observations of the Starlink's Darksat LEO…
We study the luminosity function of satellite galaxies around isolated primaries using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectroscopic and photometric galaxy samples. We select isolated primaries from the spectroscopic sample and search…
We report studies on the mitigation of optical effects of bright low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites on Vera C. Rubin Observatory and its Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). These include options for pointing the telescope to avoid…
The rapid growth of satellite constellations, particularly Starlink, is increasingly affecting ground-based astronomy. In this project, we developed a workflow to detect, identify, and measure the brightness of trails from artificial…