Just caught a satellite trail ruining my best shot of the Orion Nebula

I went out near Flagstaff last Tuesday and got what I thought was a clean 15 minute stack, but that bright streak through the core was from a Starlink pass I didn't check for. Has anyone else started running satellite trackers before they even set up their tripod?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_alex18d ago

Man that really stinks, I feel your pain on that... nothing worse than processing a stack only to see a bright satellite line cutting through your best data. I've started checking the Starlink tracker on my phone before I even unpack the car, saves a lot of frustration later.

davis.olivia18d ago

Yo did you see that study about how Starlink satellites are messing with radio telescopes too? Makes me wonder if all this tracker checking is just a bandaid fix.

miller.diana18d ago

Honestly, did you say 15 minutes? That's wild. I can barely get five clean minutes before something zips through, and I'm out in the sticks where the light pollution is supposed to be minimal. Getting a whole streak through the core of Orion of all places feels like a personal insult from Elon or whoever's running those things. Tbh it makes me wonder if we're all just wasting our time packing gear for deep sky stuff.