Astronaut Don Pettit posted an amazing photo he took while on the ISS. It shows our planet, stars, and traces of Starlink satellites.
If you go outside the city lights and look up at the night sky, you will see what appears to be an endless number of stars. But in reality, there are not as many as it may seem. From the surface of the Earth, you can see about 6,000 stars with the naked eye.
Moving stars can also be seen in the sky. These are satellites in Earth orbit. There are now nearly 8,000 Starlink satellites in space, along with thousands of other satellites, creating a veritable space “web” surrounding the Earth. Thus, the number of artificial stars already exceeds the number of real ones. Many astronomers complain that the sky pollution caused by their activities significantly complicates the observations.
Don Pettit’s photo partly illustrates this problem. There are now so many Starlink satellites in orbit that they are visible in photos taken from space. The bright flashes they create stand out clearly against the background of star trails (an effect caused by the long exposure time) and the glowing atmosphere of Earth.
The image was taken from aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft docked to the ISS. At the time of the photo, the station was over the night side of Earth, getting closer to the terminator line.
