Starlink satellites have become invisible to the human eye

Over the past two years, SpaceX has sent more than 950 Starlink satellites into space. But in the future, it intends to send 12,000 objects into Earth orbit and it already has permission from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The company fills the near-Earth space with satellites with good goals, because it wants to provide the Internet to even the most remote places on our planet.

In 2020, the Starlink satellite Internet began to work in test mode and the first users have already shared their reviews. But astronomers are far from happy with the launched satellites, because they reflect sunlight and prevent them from studying distant space objects.

And if there are even more satellites, researchers may miss the approach of a dangerous asteroid, which is fraught with a worldwide catastrophe. But recently, Starlink satellites have begun to reflect less light and are almost invisible to the naked eye. What happened?

Company SpaceX have long been aware of the fact that the astronomers complain about her companions. To reduce the reflection from satellites, in the early summer of 2020, new models equipped with protective visors were launched into Earth orbit. A new type of satellite is called visorsat and all their charm lies in the fact that the visors do not allow the sun rays falling on them to be strongly reflected.

At first, the idea of the company seemed dubious, but in the end it proved its effectiveness. The reflectivity of satellites is called albedo and recently scientists have found that after the installation of protective visors, this indicator has significantly decreased.

The good news was shared by the scientific publication Science Alert with reference to Business Insider. The first Starlink satellites were launched into low-Earth orbit in the first half of 2019. First, these vehicles get to an altitude of 440 kilometers, and then turn on their engines and rise to a 550-kilometer altitude. Since at that time they strongly reflected sunlight, it was possible to notice them in the sky even with the naked eye.

The string of satellites was clearly visible over the Netherlands and amateur astronomer Marco Langbroek was even able to capture the phenomenon on video.