The International Astronomical Union, the world’s foremost group of experts and uniting astronomical societies (and also the recognized authority for naming stars, planets, asteroids and other celestial bodies), has sharply criticized the BlueWalker 3 satellite for becoming one of the brightest objects in the sky.
Do you think that the brightness of the satellite is even higher than that of some constellations and times even the moon itself. This prevents observation by observation instruments on Earth. The man-made object was released by telecommunications company AST SpaceMobile in September and has the world’s largest commercial satellite antenna system with well 64 square meters.
To astronomers it appears more like a spaceship – a real bright streak in the sky – rather than a satellite (as you can see at the bottom of the news). The BlueWalker 3 is, in short, the largest commercial communications array ever launched into orbit and with that size arise serious problems from the point of view of astronomy.
“BlueWalker 3 is a big change in the matter of constellation satellites and should give us every reason to stop“, said Piero Benvenuti, director of the IAU Center for the protection of the dark and silent sky from the interference of the satellite constellation. Despite the technological breakthrough brought by these objects, the organization is still concerned because “their interference with astronomical observations could severely hamper progress in our understanding of the cosmos.“
A controversy destined to become increasingly heated, especially with the idea of creating advertising in the sky.
