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<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\nEarlier this year, NASA discovered a new comet with its Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) space telescope. The object, casually known as NEOWISE, has been closer to Earth this month than at any point in the last 6,000 years. Astronomers and photographers have been looking skyward to observe the comet, but one astrophotographer got a nasty surprise when Starlink satellites photobombed an otherwise excellent time-lapse photo.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n NEOWISE is what\u2019s known as a long period comet \u2014 it has a highly eccentric orbit that takes it deep into the outer solar system over thousands of years before it swings back toward the sun (and Earth). Astronomers believe the nucleus of NEOWISE is roughly three miles (5 kilometers) in diameter. For most of July, the comet has been less than 200 million miles from Earth, which is close enough to see with the naked eye in isolated areas. In urban settings, you need binoculars or a telescope to spot the comet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Astrophotographer Daniel Lopez<\/a> recently set up his equipment in Teide National Park on the Canary Islands to snap a time-lapse image of NEOWISE. The final image, which features 17 separate frames captured over 30 seconds is marred by streaks of light from SpaceX\u2019s Starlink internet satellites.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n VisorSat is supposed to stop exactly this sort of thing from happening. If it works.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Elon Musk dreams of providing satellite internet access around the world with this mega-constellation of satellites. There are already more than 500 of them in orbit, but the company\u2019s plans call for thousands. To avoid the horrendous lag endemic in previous satellite internet systems, Starlink satellites remain in lower orbits. That also makes them more visible. For example, Starlink satellites ruined observations of the Magellanic Clouds at the CTIO observatory in Chile.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 17 30-second images of the comet added up by @cielodecanarias<\/a>, completely photobombed by @elonmusk<\/a>‘s #Starlink<\/a> satellites. It’s a few hundreds of them right now,there will be a few thousands in the near future. @SpaceX<\/a> is committed to coating orienting them better but still\u2026. pic.twitter.com\/TYtTf5xwhc<\/a><\/p>\n![\"https:\/\/www.extremetech.com\/\"](\"https:\/\/www.extremetech.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/spacex-visorsat-slide-640x353.jpg\")
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