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As an amateur astronomer I've always wondered how detrimental 1,000 StarLink satellites could be to viewing the stars from an Earth-bound location. Apparently, according to this article, it is a lot more problematic than Elon Musk led on initially. Currently, they have only deployed the first batch of satellites, yet already some telescope long exposures are looking like this:

Starlink star trails...

Now that it's rather obvious that these satellites are not invisible to longer exposures, has SpaceX made public statements about potential changes to their deployment plans or designs?

If this should be migrated to Astronomy, let me know. It's more in regards to future SpaceX plans than why/how the interference is happening.

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    $\begingroup$ Due to the low orbital altitude of the starlink satellites, they will only be visible shortly after sunset and before sunrise. I don't think this will significantly cause problems for astronomy $\endgroup$
    – Dragongeek
    Sep 4, 2019 at 18:21
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    $\begingroup$ @Dragongeek there's also moonlight... $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Sep 5, 2019 at 2:06
  • $\begingroup$ @ReinstateMonica-M.Schröder I believe this was asked long before that one, which was asked today. Does that still mean it's a duplicate and I should close it or? $\endgroup$
    – Magic Octopus Urn
    Nov 20, 2019 at 18:35
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    $\begingroup$ @MagicOctopusUrn The other question has an answer, so yes. $\endgroup$
    – Martin Schröder
    Nov 20, 2019 at 19:41
  • $\begingroup$ @ReinstateMonica-M.Schröder ah, had no idea how that works, voting my own question then too. Thanks for clarification. $\endgroup$
    – Magic Octopus Urn
    Nov 20, 2019 at 19:57

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