Characterizing the All-Sky Brightness of Satellite Mega-Constellations and the Impact on Astronomy Research

TL;DR

This study develops an automated measurement approach to characterize the brightness of satellite mega-constellations, providing critical data on their impact on astronomical research.

Contribution

Introduces a comprehensive measurement methodology using Pomenis to assess the brightness of mega-constellations like Starlink and OneWeb.

Findings

7631 observations conducted

Brightness distribution data for multiple satellite types

Insights into the variability of satellite brightness

Abstract

Measuring photometric brightness is a common tool for characterizaing satellites. However, characterizing satellite mega-constellations and their impact on astronomy research requires a new approach and methodology. A few measurements of singular satellites are not sufficient to fully describe a mega-constellation and assess its impact on modern astronomical systems. Characterizing the brightness of a satellite mega-constellation requires a comprehensive measurement program conducting numerous observations over the entire set of critical variables. Utilizing Pomenis, a small-aperture and wide field-of-view astrograph, we developed an automated observing program to measure the photometric brightness of mega-constellation satellites. We report the summary results of 7631 separate observations and the statistical distribution of brightness for the Starlink, visored-Starlink, Starlink DarkSat, and OneWeb satellites.