Nine-year-old Annabel Rich caught the Elon Musk Starlink Satellites on camera last night (October 22) during a session with the Ramsgate Stargazers.
St Peter’s pupil Annabel and her mum Belinda were attending the Observe the Moon session at Ramsgate Boating Pool when the youngster caught this image.
Starlink is a satellite constellation being constructed by American company SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, to provide satellite Internet access. The constellation consists of thousands of mass-produced small satellites in low Earth orbit, working in combination with ground transceivers.
SpaceX started launching Starlink satellites in 2019. As of August 2023, it consists of over 5,000 mass-produced small satellites in low Earth orbit. Nearly 12,000 satellites are planned to be deployed, with a possible later extension to 42,000.
Astronomers have raised concerns about the effect the constellation may have on ground-based astronomy, and how the satellites will add to an already congested orbital environment.
