Radio Telescopes Spot Starlinks with Ease
A recent study based on test data for the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) radio telescope has shown that the Starlink satellite constellation, with its large number of low-orbit satellites, poses challenges for radio astronomy. The study detected both intentional and unintentional radio emissions from Starlink satellites, with some emissions being brighter than the brightest sky objects at low frequencies. While intentional signals can be mitigated through exclusion zones, the difficulty of shielding low-frequency emissions means that stray signals from Starlink could significantly impact research goals for SKA. This highlights the need to find a balance between the convenience of satellite internet and the exploration of the radio sky.