![]() ![]() Some even go out of their way to see it: the International Space Station (ISS). While there’s no doubt these are useful to people in remote locations, allowing them to connect to the internet for the first time in some cases, both amateur and professional astronomers are deeply concerned about their impact on the night sky and astronomical research.īut there is one satellite that, perhaps hypocritically, watchers of the night sky enjoy. In recent years, the number of satellites orbiting Earth has - if you’ll pardon the pun - skyrocketed, particularly as SpaceX has pursued its mission to fill low Earth orbit with its Starlink Wi-Fi satellites, launching some 50 at a time atop its reusable Falcon rockets. ![]() They steer our cars, guide our planes and ships, and, perhaps most important, allow us to watch cute cat videos while lazing on a beach. Every minute of every day, satellites are taking photos of the weather, transmitting TV and radio signals, monitoring the climate, and linking people around the world. And it’s no exaggeration to say that they have become an essential part of our infrastructure. Sixty-five years after the launch of Sputnik in 1957, there are thousands of satellites orbiting Earth. However, there is one thing you can be guaranteed to see moving in the sky every night, no matter where you live on the planet: satellites. ![]() You can’t be guaranteed to see each of them every night. Sometimes, a display of the fabled aurora paints the northern sky with searchlight beams of scarlet and swaying curtains of highlighter-pen green.īut all these things only happen occasionally. Stars rise and set during the night constellations come and go as the seasons pass planets waltz along the ecliptic, visiting the zodiacal constellations on their nonstop sightseeing tour of the heavens and shooting stars zip across the sky. ![]()
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