Don't worry, Sam, SpaceX won't ACTUALLY launch 7,000 satellites!
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Some questions that keep coming up:
There are gaps in the lines because this is a bunch of shorter exposures over the course of 10 minutes added togetherKessler Syndrome is extremely bad for everybody, don't hope for it (though on my grumpier days I can definitely understand that perspective)
The many parallel lines come from the orbits that have been chosen by megaconstellation operators, mostly Starlink. You can see that somewhat in various satellite visualizers like https://satellitetracker3d.com/
@sundogplanets The man who stole the sky
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Some questions that keep coming up:
There are gaps in the lines because this is a bunch of shorter exposures over the course of 10 minutes added togetherKessler Syndrome is extremely bad for everybody, don't hope for it (though on my grumpier days I can definitely understand that perspective)
The many parallel lines come from the orbits that have been chosen by megaconstellation operators, mostly Starlink. You can see that somewhat in various satellite visualizers like https://satellitetracker3d.com/
@sundogplanets
It will take hard proof for them to understand.And if the choice is between Kessler Syndrome and North Sahara being the new name for Lapland, I think I prefer Kessler Syndrome.
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Well, you can also spy with the satellites. Can't do that with a cell tower (not that effective) and destroying one satellite does nothing to the system.
I really wish China would launch their own 10.000 satellites and program them on a collision course with the Starlink ones, forcing all of them to enter the atmosphere and burn out.
I would personally thank Xi for making astronomy possible again
All that shit burning in our atmosphere (over time), is another big problem.
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Don't worry, Sam, SpaceX won't ACTUALLY launch 7,000 satellites! (There are currently 10,296 Starlink sats in orbit)
Don't worry, SpaceX said they'd get their satellites below magnitude 7! (They have not https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/link_gateway/2025MNRAS.544L..15M/PUB_PDF)
Don't worry, they won't actually start Kessler Syndrome! https://outerspaceinstitute.ca/crashclock/
Don't worry, they won't actually launch a million AI data centres into orbit!! https://theconversation.com/a-new-space-race-could-turn-our-atmosphere-into-a-crematorium-for-satellites-276366
This is the fucking worst I-told-you-so https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
@sundogplanets I have a suspicion in the back of my head that a good portion of those million satellites will have bright LEDs installed on them for making advertising.
Advertising is much more profitable than AI, and it is easier to ask forgiveness than seek permission, especially since there is no one actually policing space.
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@sundogplanets I have a suspicion in the back of my head that a good portion of those million satellites will have bright LEDs installed on them for making advertising.
Advertising is much more profitable than AI, and it is easier to ask forgiveness than seek permission, especially since there is no one actually policing space.
@MatthewChat Amazingly, the US actually already has a policy against space advertising. But other countries don't.
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Don't worry, Sam, SpaceX won't ACTUALLY launch 7,000 satellites! (There are currently 10,296 Starlink sats in orbit)
Don't worry, SpaceX said they'd get their satellites below magnitude 7! (They have not https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/link_gateway/2025MNRAS.544L..15M/PUB_PDF)
Don't worry, they won't actually start Kessler Syndrome! https://outerspaceinstitute.ca/crashclock/
Don't worry, they won't actually launch a million AI data centres into orbit!! https://theconversation.com/a-new-space-race-could-turn-our-atmosphere-into-a-crematorium-for-satellites-276366
This is the fucking worst I-told-you-so https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
god that's fucking sad
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@MatthewChat Amazingly, the US actually already has a policy against space advertising. But other countries don't.
@sundogplanets when I was a child in the USA, there were laws against doctors, lawyers, and pharmaceutical companies advertising. A few well placed millions of dollars changed that.
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Don't worry, Sam, SpaceX won't ACTUALLY launch 7,000 satellites! (There are currently 10,296 Starlink sats in orbit)
Don't worry, SpaceX said they'd get their satellites below magnitude 7! (They have not https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/link_gateway/2025MNRAS.544L..15M/PUB_PDF)
Don't worry, they won't actually start Kessler Syndrome! https://outerspaceinstitute.ca/crashclock/
Don't worry, they won't actually launch a million AI data centres into orbit!! https://theconversation.com/a-new-space-race-could-turn-our-atmosphere-into-a-crematorium-for-satellites-276366
This is the fucking worst I-told-you-so https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
@sundogplanets
This image should be on the front page of major news outlets. So many folks don't know about this problem! -
@guigsy @sundogplanets Why not do a long exposure instead? Aren't composite photos usually done to look at a specific object & using a special tripod to automatically move the camera & telescope to always point at it?
Spinning the satellites would be a good way to make sure solar panels are regularly exposed to light if they're just mounted to the outside & not retractable, but then you can't aim the antenna. That's only good for those microsatellites people host BBSs on & communicate with using special equipment at very specific times.
@jackemled @sundogplanets Starlinks have propulsion. I'm pretty confident they are fully stabilised. They are actively able to avoid colliding (provided there aren't multiple fails). And if they were spinning, they'd need even bigger solar. And they operate at many kilowatts continuously. They aren't microsatellite scale.
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@jackemled @sundogplanets Starlinks have propulsion. I'm pretty confident they are fully stabilised. They are actively able to avoid colliding (provided there aren't multiple fails). And if they were spinning, they'd need even bigger solar. And they operate at many kilowatts continuously. They aren't microsatellite scale.
@guigsy @sundogplanets Yeah exactly, they're huge. I can't think of anything else that explains the gaps & makes sense though.
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Don't worry, Sam, SpaceX won't ACTUALLY launch 7,000 satellites! (There are currently 10,296 Starlink sats in orbit)
Don't worry, SpaceX said they'd get their satellites below magnitude 7! (They have not https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/link_gateway/2025MNRAS.544L..15M/PUB_PDF)
Don't worry, they won't actually start Kessler Syndrome! https://outerspaceinstitute.ca/crashclock/
Don't worry, they won't actually launch a million AI data centres into orbit!! https://theconversation.com/a-new-space-race-could-turn-our-atmosphere-into-a-crematorium-for-satellites-276366
This is the fucking worst I-told-you-so https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
@sundogplanets unrelated but i would love if everyone added sources like þis
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Don't worry, Sam, SpaceX won't ACTUALLY launch 7,000 satellites! (There are currently 10,296 Starlink sats in orbit)
Don't worry, SpaceX said they'd get their satellites below magnitude 7! (They have not https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/link_gateway/2025MNRAS.544L..15M/PUB_PDF)
Don't worry, they won't actually start Kessler Syndrome! https://outerspaceinstitute.ca/crashclock/
Don't worry, they won't actually launch a million AI data centres into orbit!! https://theconversation.com/a-new-space-race-could-turn-our-atmosphere-into-a-crematorium-for-satellites-276366
This is the fucking worst I-told-you-so https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
@sundogplanets impressive! 25 years ago that was just fiction. Certainly that should pollute frequencies in many levels of life and to the planet
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@guigsy @sundogplanets Why not do a long exposure instead? Aren't composite photos usually done to look at a specific object & using a special tripod to automatically move the camera & telescope to always point at it?
Spinning the satellites would be a good way to make sure solar panels are regularly exposed to light if they're just mounted to the outside & not retractable, but then you can't aim the antenna. That's only good for those microsatellites people host BBSs on & communicate with using special equipment at very specific times.
As @sundogplanets wrote, the gaps in the satellite trails are just from when the camera stopped taking data to read out between each of the exposures used to make the image.
This is done because if exposed for too long; the brightest things in an image saturate the detector in the camera.
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As @sundogplanets wrote, the gaps in the satellite trails are just from when the camera stopped taking data to read out between each of the exposures used to make the image.
This is done because if exposed for too long; the brightest things in an image saturate the detector in the camera.
@michael_w_busch @guigsy @sundogplanets Thank you! I understand now.
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Don't worry, Sam, SpaceX won't ACTUALLY launch 7,000 satellites! (There are currently 10,296 Starlink sats in orbit)
Don't worry, SpaceX said they'd get their satellites below magnitude 7! (They have not https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/link_gateway/2025MNRAS.544L..15M/PUB_PDF)
Don't worry, they won't actually start Kessler Syndrome! https://outerspaceinstitute.ca/crashclock/
Don't worry, they won't actually launch a million AI data centres into orbit!! https://theconversation.com/a-new-space-race-could-turn-our-atmosphere-into-a-crematorium-for-satellites-276366
This is the fucking worst I-told-you-so https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
@sundogplanets I know this sucks badly for science and spaceflight... but the picture also kinda looks cool as fuck, tbh. You can really visualize the orbit and see how the trajectories of those satellites curve around the planet.
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Don't worry, Sam, SpaceX won't ACTUALLY launch 7,000 satellites! (There are currently 10,296 Starlink sats in orbit)
Don't worry, SpaceX said they'd get their satellites below magnitude 7! (They have not https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/link_gateway/2025MNRAS.544L..15M/PUB_PDF)
Don't worry, they won't actually start Kessler Syndrome! https://outerspaceinstitute.ca/crashclock/
Don't worry, they won't actually launch a million AI data centres into orbit!! https://theconversation.com/a-new-space-race-could-turn-our-atmosphere-into-a-crematorium-for-satellites-276366
This is the fucking worst I-told-you-so https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
@sundogplanets and they fall out of the sky! Isn’t close-minded for-extreme-profit expansionism grand!
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Well, you can also spy with the satellites. Can't do that with a cell tower (not that effective) and destroying one satellite does nothing to the system.
I really wish China would launch their own 10.000 satellites and program them on a collision course with the Starlink ones, forcing all of them to enter the atmosphere and burn out.
I would personally thank Xi for making astronomy possible again
@Brokar @sundogplanets @wraptile I’ll have you know that I’m not the malicious type.
I wonder if these sats are protected against laser mischief makers. You know like they used to do with airplanes.
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Don't worry, Sam, SpaceX won't ACTUALLY launch 7,000 satellites! (There are currently 10,296 Starlink sats in orbit)
Don't worry, SpaceX said they'd get their satellites below magnitude 7! (They have not https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/link_gateway/2025MNRAS.544L..15M/PUB_PDF)
Don't worry, they won't actually start Kessler Syndrome! https://outerspaceinstitute.ca/crashclock/
Don't worry, they won't actually launch a million AI data centres into orbit!! https://theconversation.com/a-new-space-race-could-turn-our-atmosphere-into-a-crematorium-for-satellites-276366
This is the fucking worst I-told-you-so https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
@sundogplanets I saw it in my computer desktop today (i have it configured to change everyday with nasa's pic of the day). And I wondered wtf was that. Now I have a new thing to be afraid of
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@macronencer @sundogplanets Wait, what's the image for?
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Don't worry, Sam, SpaceX won't ACTUALLY launch 7,000 satellites! (There are currently 10,296 Starlink sats in orbit)
Don't worry, SpaceX said they'd get their satellites below magnitude 7! (They have not https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/link_gateway/2025MNRAS.544L..15M/PUB_PDF)
Don't worry, they won't actually start Kessler Syndrome! https://outerspaceinstitute.ca/crashclock/
Don't worry, they won't actually launch a million AI data centres into orbit!! https://theconversation.com/a-new-space-race-could-turn-our-atmosphere-into-a-crematorium-for-satellites-276366
This is the fucking worst I-told-you-so https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
@sundogplanets I'm trying to figure out with friends how many of the visible satellites in that image are Starlink. Maybe you could give a rough estimate?
