Related papers: Satellite Streak Brightness Variation with Orbit H…

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,…

Observations of Starlink V2 Mini satellites during orbit-raising suggest that SpaceX applies brightness mitigation when they reach a height of 357 km. The mean apparent magnitudes for objects below that height threshold is 2.68 while the…

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…

The number of satellites on low orbit has dramatically increased over the past years, raising concerns among the astronomical community about their impact on observations. Spectroscopic observations represent a large fraction of…

Radio telescopes observe extremely faint emission from astronomical objects, ranging from compact sources to large scale structures that can be seen across the whole sky. Satellites actively transmit at radio frequencies (particularly at…

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…

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…

Observing artificial satellites is a relatively new and unique branch of astronomy that is very interesting and dynamic. One specific aspect of observing these objects is that although they appear amongst the celestial background, as…

The mean of 830 visual magnitudes adjusted to a distance of 550 km (the operational altitude) is 4.63 +/-0.02. The data on DarkSat, the low-albedo satellite, indicate that it is fainter than the others by 1.6 magnitudes or 78%. However,…

The new Starlink V2 satellites incorporate improvements to the chassis brightness through dielectric mirrors, off-pointing solar arrays, and black paint on exposed components. For the general case in which the reflectivities are initially…

The brightness of Starlink satellites during orbit parking and orbit raising decreased significantly in 2020 when the operator modified their orientation. The mean apparent magnitude before the change was 3.90 +/- 0.18, while afterward it…

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…

Large constellations of artificial satellites are beginning to interfere with astronomical observing. Visual magnitude measurements of these spacecraft are useful for monitoring and characterizing their brightness. This paper describes the…

SpaceX recently proposed to orbit 19,440 Starlink internet satellites at a low altitude of 350 km instead of the current 550 km. The distribution in the sky and the apparent magnitudes of these spacecraft are simulated in this paper. During…

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…

The mean apparent magnitude of the Qianfan satellites is 5.76 +/- 0.04, while the mean of magnitudes adjusted to a distance of 1,000 km is 5.24 +/- 0.04, based on 1,161 observations. Light curves of several spacecraft display rapid periodic…

The Steward Observatory LEO Satellite Photometric Survey is a comprehensive observational survey to characterize the apparent brightness of the Starlink and OneWeb low Earth orbit satellites and evaluate the potential impact on astronomy.…

Magnitudes for the VisorSat and Original-design types were analyzed separately and by time. Mean values are compared with those from other large-scale photometric studies, and some signficant differences are noted. The illumination phase…

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…

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…