Astronomers Develop Solutions to Combat Satellite Photobombs in Space Images

Satellites are causing problems for astronomers by leaving scratch marks on space photos and hindering their work. Astronomers have developed new software that is five to 10 times more sensitive at finding trails than previous software, and then masking them out. However, the software is designed for Hubble, which is orbiting 332 miles above the Earth, and it’s less plagued by satellite streaks than observatories on the ground. Ground-based optical telescopes with wide-field imaging stand to be far more affected. The number of satellite streaks is growing, and the rate will surely continue rising.