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Comment by Uhuhreally | Hacker News Reader

there are other ways to deliver internet

there are other ways to do astronomy

from Earth there's only one way: telescopes

Starlink hasn't rendered telescopes inoperative, nor will it. They still work for 99+% of viewing time, and the satellites in question are invisible on most of the radiation band telescopes can operate on.

This is a tempest in a teapot complaint. Ground-based telescopes already need to account for the existence of satellites, airplanes, birds, the ISS, etc. The Starlink constellation is just increasing the number of the things; it's not changing the nature of the challenge.

Or would you recommend we ban microwave ovens because they deliver noise near the radio spectra we use for Internet communication?

Banning microwave ovens (and RF transmission in general) is precisely what is done near radio-astronomy sites (see Green Bank, the SKA, etc.)

... but not throughout the whole town housing the telescope.

Including the town housing the telescope: https://greenbankobservatory.org/the-land-where-the-internet...

Do you propose to pass laws to turn the world into Green Bank, W.Va?

Because I, for one, kinda enjoy being able to have the conversation we're having right now.

We are having this conversation now without significantly impeding the work of astronomers.

Is there anything that trumps the needs of astronomers in your book? If we could go to 100% carbon free energy, but severely reduce ground based astronomical observations, would you be against that?

Astronomers are way behind on this -- it has never been a problem before -- but launching a huge constellation of satellites before considering the potentially irreversible impact on a branch of science seems unwise to me.

Global internet sounds awesome, and has undeniable benefit to humankind. Uncoordinated launches of large constellations will have some detriment to humankind. The thing I'd like to see is a clear-eyed assessment of the impacts and mitigation strategies before there are billions more in sunk costs deployed in launching these constellations. Once they're up, they're up, and large companies will lose huge if the constellations have to come back down.

Motorola's bankruptcy came from insufficient monetization of Iridium. SpaceX will be in the same boat, if they aren't already.

I'm an experimental physicist, not an astronomer. Limiting systematic uncertainty is what I do all day. When I see these constellations, what I see is a zoo of uncontrolled systematics and a shrinking opportunity to address them before they become permanent.

As someone who looks at the stars, I want generations in the future to look at the stars and have their imaginations captured by distant pinpricks of burning hydrogen, not a visual screen of our own construction. Our children's understanding of our place in the universe may depend upon it.

FWIW, nothing about the SpaceX constellation is going to make the visible pinpricks of burning hydrogen go away. They orbit too close to the Earth to be visible at night in most of the sky.

How much astronomy relies upon sunrise / sunset observation windows?

The article you linked to specifcally noted not only microwaves but also cellular towers and wifi were banned in Green Bank. I have no doubt that banning microwaves, cell towers, and wifi globally would make radio astronomy easier.

... but we also wouldn't be having this conversation, as I lack a land-line connection to the Internet right now.

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