Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) A huge new satellite built to connect directly to mobile phones on the ground is one of the 20 brightest objects in the night sky, causing serious interference with astronomical observations, according to astronomers.

The satellite, AST SpaceMobile's Bluewalker 3, was launched on September 10, and its 64-square-meter solar panels and antenna array were fully launched earlier this month.

The International Astronomical Union coordinated observations from around Earth and found that the satellite was almost as bright as stars such as Antas and Spica, which are the 15th and 16th brightest stars in the night sky, respectively. "only 14 stars in the night sky are brighter than BlueWalker 3. This means that under typical conditions, BlueWalker 3 is brighter than 99.8% stars visible to the naked eye," said John Barentine of Dark Sky Consulting.

Astronomers are not just focused on Bluewalker 3, because Bluewalker 3 is just one of the more than 100 satellites the company aims to launch into the so-called Bluebird constellation as part of its plan to build a satellite network to provide a 5G network from space. Bluebird satellites may be twice the size of Bluewalker 3, which will make them brighter.

Astronomers have been concerned about the potential impact of giant constellations of thousands of satellites such as SpaceX's star chain, but the International Astronomical Society says AST SpaceMobile's plan poses new problems because they will emit intense radio waves that could interfere with astronomical observations.

CTOnews.com has learned that astronomers are building radio telescopes as far away from human activity as possible, looking for places on Earth where mobile phone coverage is limited or not. New satellites like BlueWalker 3 have the potential to worsen the situation, and if not properly mitigated, it will damage astronomers' scientific work.

The International Astronomical Society says it has begun a dialogue with the AST SpaceMobile about potential mitigation measures.

"our goal is to use the latest technologies and strategies to minimize the impact on astronomy. We are actively working with experts on the latest innovations, including the screening of antireflective materials," an AST SpaceMobile spokesman said.

AST SpaceMobile CEO Abel Avellan said in a statement earlier this month that his goal is to create a constellation to eliminate the dead zone of mobile networks on Earth.

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