SpaceX satellites

LaurieLovesLearning

Last week, our kids spotted the "train" of SpaceX satellites. They questioned why they were there, being somewhat excited/fascinated/curious and never having seen more than one or two satellites in any point in time.

When I said why they were there & that an enormous amount more are planned to follow, and that it was for communication purposes, they expressed their disappointment that the night sky already isn't the same because of these already & that it will change even more drastically in the future. (Is it really that necessary? They asked.) They love the planets & stars, and as satellites are fun to see, more will be too much. I found this interesting since this is from them, a younger generation, & not influenced from anything or anyone else.

I have read that space/star observers are sounding alarms & not approving as there will be no place that will then be good for observation. It is pollution in more than one way. Pollution is never good.

dottile46

@Laurie can you please explain what SpaceX satellites are? I don't think I have heard of this.

LaurieLovesLearning

This is from someone who spends a lot of time doing space observation:

https://ebrandon.ca/messagethread.aspx?message_id=1035897&cat_id=3

The kids only counted 15 at this point in time. They are to spreading out.

SuperC

@Laurie i agree with you, and it’s lovely your kids have identified the brilliance of star-planet gazing.

dottile46

@Laurie 😲 I remember the name SpaceX from a rocket that blew up or something, was in the news several years ago. Had not heard about the "satellite constellation" they were building. Interesting.

seeker.nancy - Central Texas

I live about 10-15 miles from a Space-X rocket testing facility. Nobody bothered to mention that to me when I was buying my house lol. Sometimes the tests are so loud they rattle items in the house. There was an exceptionally loud and long one the other night. My adult daughter who lives with me came up and asked if it was Space-X or a tornado. She said she worries sometimes about rockets or pieces crashing on us and didn't I worry about it also? I said yes that I do but I just try not to think about it because for the moment this is where we will be. Our world is forever changing and with most of it, there is no going back. I was living about 70 miles from San Antonio, TX on 9/11. My husband at the time was retired military and still got his medical care on Base in San Antonio. He had an appointment a few days after and I remember driving into San Antonio and for the first time, there were no planes in the air it none to be heard. It was kind of eerie. I had never stopped to think about all the changes just in my life until then. I used to wonder what the future held. Now I don't want to know as I can barely keep up with today lol!

LaurieLovesLearning

@seeker.nancy I agree. No jets, etc. in the air was eerie. But wasn't it a beautiful thing to see the blue sky without it being marred? It was the way it is supposed to be.

seeker.nancy - Central Texas

@Laurie it totally was...and I could look at the night sky and see only the stars. Beautiful!

Merin Porter

https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/comment/851522#Comment_851522

Thanks for sharing, Laurie! I had not heard of this....

seeker.nancy - Central Texas

This was in my inbox, interesting!

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-fccs-approval-of-spacexs-starlink-mega-constellation-may-have-been-unlawful/

LaurieLovesLearning

@seeker.nancy Very. I hope the astronomers win. However, these are already marring our night sky. It would be great for them to disappear.