NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019 •SKYNEWS 5A
s AN AvId amateur astronomer,
I found last May’s launch of the
first batch of spaceX starlink
satellites to be an emotional roller-coaster
ride. At first, I was excited to read about a
string of 60 bright satellites drifting across
the sky in tight formation. how cool is
that! but later, when I discovered the
endgame is to have 12,
of these objects buzzing
around earth by 2025, my
heart sank. what would
this mean for those of us
who enjoy the beauty of a
starry night? how would
the efforts of research
astronomers be affected?
the proposed mega con-
stellation of satellites is just
the latest in a seemingly
never-ending succession
of hurdles stargazers must
clear.
I was a fortunate child.
I grew up in a small town
in the southern interior of
british Columbia—a place
where street lighting was
unknown. on clear summer nights, I could
lie on the front lawn and soak up the
starlight while marvelling at the grand
glowing band of the Milky way arching
from horizon to horizon. It was heaven.
Yet even in the 1960s—when I was a kid—
such a pristine nocturnal experience was
becoming rare. Families were gradually
migrating to cities, and as those cities ex-
panded to accommodate the new arrivals,
tentacles of street illumination claimed
more and more of the surrounding coun-
tryside. eventually, for most observers,
a rewarding session under the stars re-
quired packing up the car and driving an
hour or more out of town. the situation
has only gotten worse, and if the Jevons
paradox holds true (see this space in the
March/April 2019 issue), the trend will
worsen.
In the past few years, we “naturalists
of the night” have been dealt a new set -
back. As terence dickinson noted in the
March/April 2018 issue (page 46), smoke
from out-of-control wildfires has become
the latest obstacle for astro-enthusiasts.
there was a time, not so long ago, when the
weather was the only thing I worried aboutwhen I packed the car before setting off to
my favourite star party. A week ahead of the
appointed date, I’d anxiously scan the latest
forecasts to learn what the prospects for
clear skies might be. today, I also have to
consult a smoke forecast. sadly, the smoki-
est season is summer, which, of course,
coincides with the best stargazing weather.
let’s face it—if the air was filled with smoke
in the dead of winter, few of us would com-
plain. but summer? that’s our prime ob-
serving window! And like light pollution,
the wildfire smoke is likely to get worse in
the coming years.
the twin torments of light and smokeare why the prospect of being menaced by
a swarm of new satellites is so deeply frus-
trating. And you have to know spaceX
won’t be the only company looking for a
way to profit from low earth orbit. It’s
enough to make me shake my fist at the sky
and yell, “enough, already!”
You’re probably thinking this is the
part of my editorial where I
describe the silver lining in
all this. that’s a tall order,
but here goes...
First, there’s been some
pushback to the spaceX
scheme, from both profes-
sional and amateur astron -
omers. Future versions of
the satellites might not be
as reflective (and, therefore,
as troublesome) as the first
bunch. second, and per-
haps more important, we’re
an adaptable bunch. when
light pollution became a
significant problem, light-
pollution filters appeared
on the market and we car-
ried on. As more and more
stargazers sought to escape city lights, an-
nual star parties became increasingly pop-
ular. strange as it may seem, without light
pollution, it’s unlikely most of us would
experience the wonders of the universe in
the company of like-minded enthusiasts.
Astrophotographers have embraced the
virtues of narrowband imaging and are
now producing deep-sky shots from loca-
tions as blindingly illuminated as down-
town vancouver and toronto—a feat no
one would have bothered to attempt until
recently.
I don’t know exactly how we skywatch-
ers will manage to escape smoky skies or
find a way to avoid the satellite menace that
may lie ahead, but I do know this: If the
flame of curiosity and wonder burns bright
enough, it can never be fully extinguished.
we’ll figure it out. we always do. ✦EDITOR’S REPORT by GARY SERONIK
NAVIGATING THE NEW NIGHT SKY
stargazing seems to become more difficult with each passing decade
THINGS TO COMEMenacing streaks of light
from a flock of SpaceX Starlink satellites obscure
this Lowell Observatory view of the NGC5353/
galaxy group. COURTESY VICTORIA GIRGIS/LOWELL
OBSERVATORY