Book Review: Losing the Sky
March 2023 :
Book Review: Losing the Sky, by Andy Lawrence, Edinburgh: Photon Productions, 2021, ISBN 978-1-8383997-2-6, softbound, $7.38 U.S.
Reviewed by Francine Jackson
When I first received this book, I thought it was another one dedicated to light pollution; but, I was totally wrong. The author’s warning is about the incredible glut of small satellites that are already in our sky, with many more projected to be launched. This results in the number of trails that show up in many astrophotos; also, sky observers are seeing more and more of them, and, their radio signals can coincide with that of radio telescopes.
The original idea of these, especially the Starlink, by SpaceX, was to allow WiFi coverage in all parts of the world, especially where it is not available at this time, such as developing countries; however, the number of these satellites is now into the thousands, with more to be launched. In addition, other companies are contributing their share of these objects. And the final total could be impossible to imagine.
SpaceX has announced the possibility of painting their satellites dark or a grayish color, but that just doesn’t solve the problem of the numbers of objects already in low Earth orbit. There are departments charged with documenting the number of satellites circling our planet, but these are already more than can be constantly observed. And, it is believed they will remain in orbit at least a decade after their useful life is over.
Although this problem doesn’t seem to have a solution that could be considered a compromise, dialogue with astronomers, both optical and radio astronomy, is starting to happen However, companies requesting launch time for these objects seem to always be granted, resulting in more and more moving overhead.
It was always believed that light pollution was a major problem in our inability to enjoy the night sky; now, it seems, there is yet another way this is happening.
