Science & Tech · Science & Environment · 1 day ago
New Zealand night-sky image reveals thousands of satellite trails
New Zealand photographer Brendan Larsen combined 578 night-sky photos taken over almost two hours near Mount Taranaki.
The composite shows an estimated 14,000 satellite trails, but it does not represent 14,000 different satellites because some appeared in more than one photo.
Larsen says satellite trails now appear in almost every night-sky photograph he takes.
More than 9,000 satellites have been deployed by SpaceX since 2019 for its Starlink internet service.
Larsen says large satellite groups could affect nocturnal animals and the atmosphere when satellites burn up as they re-enter Earth’s atmosphere.
He says their potential long-term environmental effects need to be taken seriously, while recognising that satellites provide valuable services.
Astrophotographer and teacher Brendan Larsen combined 578 photographs of the sky over Mount Taranaki into an image showing an estimated 14,000 satellite trails.
He took the 8-second exposures over almost two hours in New Zealand.
The figure counts trails in the composite, not 14,000 separate satellites passing overhead during that period.
Larsen said he wanted the image to show how dramatically the night sky is changing.
He raised concerns about possible effects of satellite constellations on nocturnal animals and Earth’s atmosphere.
- Who
- Brendan Larsen, an astrophotographer and teacher in New Plymouth, New Zealand.
- What
- He combined 578 night-sky exposures into an image with an estimated 14,000 satellite trails.
- When
- The photographs were taken over almost two hours. The sources do not state the date.
- Where
- Over Mount Taranaki in New Zealand.
- Why
- Larsen wanted to raise awareness of the changing night sky and potential environmental effects of satellite constellations.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Larsen took 578 eight-second exposures of the sky over Mount Taranaki.
Larsen spent 45 hours combining the exposures into a composite image.
- Photographer
- Brendan Larsen
- Location
- Mount Taranaki, New Zealand
- Exposures
- 578 photographs, each 8 seconds
- Estimated trails
- 14,000
- Image processing
- 45 hours
3 sources
What people are saying
I wanted to create an image that would show people, in a single photograph, just how dramatically our night sky is changing
I recognise that satellites provide valuable services… but I think we need to take the potential long-term environmental consequences of these enormous satellite constellations seriously