[lend000]

On the other hand, soon space will be so accessible that any serious astronomer will be able to deploy a cubesat to assist in imaging and observation.

But I agree that this is an interesting dilemma. Perhaps the low earth orbit satellites should be limited to certain bands around the globe (certain coverage regions in the case of Starlink), so that there remain pristine skies in more remote areas: internationally agreed upon "Natural Sky Preserves" or something of that nature.

[wcoenen]

> so that there remain pristine skies in more remote areas

These pristine skies do not exist. There are already many satellites in polar orbits that intentionally pass over all points on Earth (e.g. for observation, or for the Iridium satellite phones). If you spend an hour stargazing in a recliner during reasonable viewing conditions, you will likely see a few passing overhead in the north-south direction.

[Rebelgecko]

A 15 megapixel smarphone camera on a cubesat is not going to be comparable with ground based imaging

[mhh__]

A cubesat to replace an enormous ground based telescope?