@sundogplanets@mastodon.social
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sundogplanets

@sundogplanets@mastodon.social

Professor of astronomy, farmer of goats. Asteroid (42910). She/her.

Has mostly lived in warmer places, now learning to live respectfully on Treaty 4 lands (Saskatchewan, Canada)

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sundogplanets, to random
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Wow the mansplaining is extra strong today.

sundogplanets, to random
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Here comes a thread on light pollution from satellites, with a concrete action that you all can take to help push for regulation of satellites in orbit!

Astronomers have been worried about light pollution from satellites (if you've been following me for more than 24 hours, you've perhaps heard a bit about this). Astronomers spent SO much time and effort begging and pleading with Starlink to make their satellites fainter, with mixed results.

sundogplanets,
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Then, seemingly out of nowhere, AST Mobile launched a GIGANTIC direct-to-cell satellite that is as bright as the brightest stars in the sky (this is paywalled, sorry, the next link is not): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06672-7

This is an opinion piece I wrote about this article a few months ago (which required much back-and-forth with multiple Nature editors, plus their lawyers...sigh): https://rdcu.be/drQOU

sundogplanets,
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These direct-to-cell satellites require large antennae that are super reflective. They are also HORRIBLE for radio astronomy. Cell phones are designed to pick up very strong signals from close to your horizon. Satellites have their strongest signals make it to the ground when they're directly overhead, sending signals over the shortest distance and through the smallest column of atmosphere.

sundogplanets,
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I have no idea how these direct-to-cell satellites will work, but I'd guess it will require extremely strong radio broadcasts.

Radio astronomers who have been following this are terrified: they go to great pains to make radio-quiet zones, and if giant satellites blasting super strong radio signals fly over all the time, it will destroy these radio-quiet zones.

sundogplanets,
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The FCC (the US federal agency charged with regulating satellites) has approved just direct-to-cell satellites: https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-advances-supplemental-coverage-space-framework-0

I ran a simulation of 400 of these satellites as seen from Toronto. From light-polluted downtown Toronto, in the night sky you would be able to see the Moon, Venus, and a bunch of stupidly bright satellites all night long on the summer solstice.

sundogplanets,
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A group of concerned astronomers, artists, and policy experts have come together and formed Kessler Rebellion. Our goal is to educate the public about what's happening in orbit and advocate for regulatory changes that will avoid Kessler Syndrome, which would destroy our ability to use satellites in Low Earth Orbit for decades to centuries.

sundogplanets,
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Right now the FCC has an official comment period open, until MAY 30. I have no idea if it will help for them to receive many letters from the general public, but we've written up instructions on how to do this here: https://www.kesslerrebellion.com/take-action

You can submit a comment even if you don't live in the US.

I know there are SO many things to fight against right now. But if you have any energy left, and you love the night sky, this is a relatively easy action. Thank you!

sundogplanets,
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@cory_foy @tehstu But you don't need say...Zoom calls or streaming movies from remote locations for this, right? An Iridium phone is fine? Which uses a network of just a few sats at higher altitude orbits. So, we already have this.

sundogplanets,
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@Paragone so...what, everyone should just give up? Is that what you're saying? That's a pretty destructive attitude.

sundogplanets, to random
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I had lunch (outdoors!) with a bunch of people from the conference, and because it's a bunch of planetary astronomers, everyone was comparing the properties of the asteroids named after them. Kinda cool.

sundogplanets, to random
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I am definitely very very ready to go home and not be in a big city anymore. I know at least one person at the conference who has tested positive for covid, and I hope hope HOPE that my careful masking and eating outdoors has been enough to avoid catching it. Ugh I never want to go to a conference again.

I slept badly again. Time to venture out and find food and immune-boosting vitamins and coffee, then 3+ interviews and maybe I'll actually get to watch a few conference talks today...

sundogplanets,
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@WTL @KimSJ The person I know of who tested positive stayed in their room as soon as they started feeling sick, tested themselves, and was very responsible about letting many of the people they interacted with know they tested positive.

mastodonmigration, (edited ) to random
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So, over in the astronomy world there is some consternation about a tweet from eminent satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell.

Apparently "Starlink Precipitation" is now a thing. And yes, you got that right, Starlink precipitation is pieces of Elon Musk's fucking internet satellites raining down from space.

See also this post from @carlysagan: https://mastodon.social/@carlysagan/112448150797509408

sundogplanets,
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@mastodonmigration To be clear, this piece is Saskatchewan is not a piece of a Starlink satellite, it's a Crew Dragon Trunk capsule, which is apparently an unpressurized cargo storage part of the Crew Dragon that gets ejected on reentry. But...it is supposed to burn up entirely. Just like Starlink satellites are supposed to burn up entirely. So... it's really just as worrying.

carlysagan, to random
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“Starlink precipitation” should not be allowable as a term - I’m sorry, what?!

sundogplanets,
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@carlysagan Having talked to Jonathan a lot (including about this Saskatchewan space junk), he's definitely being bitingly sarcastic here, in case that's not obvious. He's very critical of pretty much everything Starlink is doing

sundogplanets, to random
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I am talking o a reporter about this in a couple hours: https://regina.ctvnews.ca/from-outer-space-sask-farmers-baffled-after-discovering-strange-wreckage-in-field-1.6880353

This is about an hour away from my farm, so this'll be a fun conversation, and yet another great opportunity to tell a lot of people about what a huge problem we have with unregulated commercialization of orbit. (Also I just redid my slides for my public talk next week, this is going in!)

sundogplanets,
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I chatted with the farmer again, and he's doing everything right! He asked for proof that the person was from SpaceX. He asked them to donate to the local skating rink. He's being careful at every step. He's doing a great job of dealing with a totally bizarre situation that very few people in the world have ever had to deal with.

I'll be heading up to visit him and see the junk over the weekend once I'm back in Sask, he seemed pretty confident that he'd still be in possession of it.

sundogplanets,
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I have so many interview requests that I'm actually starting to lose track of them at this point...

But I'm really glad there is so much interest. This is terrifying stuff: SpaceX and other companies are dumping stuff on the ground that could very easily kill people. Countries need to enforce the rules that already exist, and the regulations NEED to be updated to take into account how terrifyingly many re-entries are happening now.

sundogplanets,
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Augh I have an interview written on my calendar happening soon but I can't find it anywhere in my email.... oh noooooo I need a better system.

sundogplanets,
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I have now done 5 interviews about Saskatchewan space junk from a random empty classroom at University of Toronto.

sundogplanets,
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@carlysagan Do people get paid for news interviews?! I always considered it a part of my job as a professor at a public university...hm.

sundogplanets,
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@carlysagan yeah it's definitely exhausting... this is an interesting thing to consider. Thanks for the idea.

sundogplanets,
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I'm going to CBC studios in Toronto tomorrow morning for an interview and coffee with a science journalist that I'm totally going to fangirl about! This is exciting (but it means I have to shift 2 other interviews I had already scheduled...haha this is so hilarious)

sundogplanets,
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Nicole Mortillaro gave me a hug after the interview! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

sundogplanets,
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...and let me just say that it is fucking surreal to get texts from my partner about baby goats while I'm trying not to completely freak out walking through downtown Toronto after a CBC interview.

sundogplanets,
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I get to go home today!!! There are now 11 baby goats at my farm and I'm sooooo excited to snuggle all of them and milk their mamas and make lots of cheese!

Amazingly, I have zero interviews scheduled today (must be something about the news cycle, nobody wants to write a story on Friday?)

If I managed to avoid getting sick (please please please) from the conference and plane and so much people-exposure in Toronto, then tomorrow I'm going to go to visit the farmer who found the space junk.

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