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by CorvusCrypto 2576 days ago
Okay that's interesting but I have to say it's also quite ugly. Is this a new trend to cluster satellites like this? If so what advantage does it bring and is it worth that ugly streak appearing in the night?

I get this comment is very subjective but surely I'm not the only one thinking it's a bit of an eyesore
2 comments
dahfizz 2575 days ago
Is it uglier than telephone poles and huge cell towers everywhere? Of all the infrastructure humans build out, this is probably going to be one of the least eyesore.
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CorvusCrypto 2575 days ago
That's good then. And no I don't think it's uglier. You're right that many of the billboards and such are ugly but I still believe this to be ugly as well and I don't thing something being uglier invalidates it

Someone else commented something that puts me at more ease but it is worrying at first glance.

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19870213 2576 days ago
They are currently spreading out and once they have spread out enough they will move on their own power to their final orbits.
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CorvusCrypto 2576 days ago
Hmmm well I hope it's not noticeable because starlink is planning 24 orbital planes with 60 satellites per. With that it's safe to say you could see up to 50 or so of them in a night due to the constellation pattern. That's a lot of flickering and moving light in the sky when coupled with AWS' initiative also. I'm hoping your right but at first glance it doesn't seem great.
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mikeash 2576 days ago
There are well over a thousand operational satellites in low earth orbit currently, plus I don’t know how many dead ones. Have you noticed those?

They’re only visible for about an hour after sunset, since the satellite itself still has to be illuminated to be visible.

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CorvusCrypto 2575 days ago
Hmm no. That does put me at more ease.

And yeah I included that last part in the estimate for seeing up to 50, otherwise the projection would be of course up to half of all of them.

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mikeash 2575 days ago
Don’t get me wrong, Starlink will be a substantial increase in the number of satellites. But if you don’t notice them now, it probably won’t be overwhelming after.
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HeadsUpHigh 2575 days ago
I think their end goal with the full constellation deployed is 3 satellites in view at any time. And they should only shine at dusk/dawn.
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