[tidepod12]

A couple points:

1) 1200 is a small percentage of the tens of thousands of satellites that the full system, plus the other similar systems will eventually consist of.

2) Being able to go outside and point out a satellite has absolutely no relevance on the satellite's impact on professional astronomy.

3) It did not "seem to have worked". SpaceX experimented with reducing the reflectivity of their satellites, but only some satellites have that reduced reflectivity, and astronomers found them to be only marginally better.

[cbozeman]

Yeah, and what's going to advance humanity as a whole more significantly, I wonder... high-speed Internet access for the entire planet... or professional astronomers not being able to see into space as easily as they did 20 years ago?

or... Or... OR... Launching massive powerful telescopes into space using SpaceX rockets for professional astronomers to use?

[genericone]

Their livelihoods are under attack, they're going to fight it regardless of the upside of starlink.

[tidepod12]

I have no idea who you're addressing. If it's me, that's quite a nice strawman you've built. Next time perhaps try to actually address the words written in my comment rather than inventing some boogeyman that nobody brought up except you.

Here, I'll demonstrate:

>high-speed Internet access for the entire planet

Musk himself has said that only a tiny, tiny fraction of the world will ever be able to use Starlink. It is not anywhere close to "internet access for the entire planet", and certainly isn't providing any more internet access than is already provided by existing satellite internet providers.

>or professional astronomers not being able to see into space as easily as they did 20 years ago?

In case you weren't aware, astronomy is responsible for some of the most significant scientific advancements since for literally millennia. If you really want an answer to your questions, it's this: professional astronomers being prevented from doing research is significantly more of a negative impact to humanity's advancement than the positive impact from 0.001% of the world having access to lower ping internet. It's not even close.

>or... Or... OR... Launching massive powerful telescopes into space using SpaceX rockets for professional astronomers to use?

Even with something the size of Starship, it's physically impossible to launch anything even remotely close to the size of telescopes needed by professional astronomers.