--- title: "Astronomers: SpaceX’s New Satellites Are Ruining the Night Sky" description: "Last week, SpaceX unleashed 60 tiny Starlink satellites to orbit the Earth at just 340 miles. Astronomers are worried they could ruin the night sky." date: "2019-05-28" modified: "2019-05-28" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-starlink-satellites-ruining-night-sky" categories: - "Space" - "SpaceX" tags: - "elon musk" - "satellites" - "SpaceX" - "starlink" - "the digest" --- # Astronomers: SpaceX’s New Satellites Are Ruining the Night Sky ![Last week, SpaceX unleashed 60 tiny Starlink satellites to orbit the Earth at just 340 miles. Astronomers are worried they could ruin the night sky.]() *\Image: SpaceX\* ## Light Pollution Last week, SpaceX [unleashed 60 tiny Starlink satellites]() — meant to eventually bring broadband connections to all — to orbit the Earth at just 340 miles (550 km). That's far lower than most other satellites in orbit, which has some astronomers worried that they'll be [way brighter]() than expected and could end up ruining the night sky. "They’re bright, and there are going to be a lot of them," [tweeted]() Southwest Research Institute astronomer Alex Parker. "If SpaceX launches all 12,000, they will outnumber stars visible to the naked eye." "The potential tragedy of a mega-constellation like Starlink is that for the rest of humanity it changes how the night sky looks," Ronald Drimmel, from the Turin Astrophysical Observatory in Italy, [told *Forbes*](). "Starlink, and other mega constellations, would ruin the sky for everyone on the planet." ## No Impact SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has already responded to these concerns, [tweeting]() that the satellites "won’t be seen by anyone unless looking very carefully." "We need to move telelscopes \[sic\] to orbit anyway," he mused. Most communications and GPS satellites orbit the Earth at much higher altitudes. Geosynchronous TV satellites, for instance, orbit at 35,786 km (22,236 mi) above Earth's equator. SpaceX is already approved to launch almost 12,000 satellites to complete full broadband coverage across the globe. **READ MORE:** [SpaceX's Starlink Could Change The Night Sky Forever, And Astronomers Are Not Happy]() \[*Forbes*\] **More on Starlink:** *[SpaceX Just Unleashed 60 Starlink Satellites Into Orbit]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()