Page:SATCON2 Community Engagement Report.pdf/27

 For now, my enjoyment of night viewing has been enhanced with Starlink satellite trains passing overhead. Looks like an alien invasion and at times, surprisingly bright.

I really think that complaining about satellites while ignoring ground based light pollution is just being penny wise and pound foolish. Light pollution makes a much more serious impact.

There is some correlation between those who conducted research or were regular imagers and the most negative views of satellite constellations and their impact on their observing programs. The comments made by respondents were generally targeted at limiting or eliminating satellite constellations — generally, approaches that are not likely to happen. Several asked that the satellites be painted black, or not be launched at all. A number of respondents noted that internet accessibility is, fundamentally, a good thing, and the astronomy community is a small, special interest group that should merely accept the satellites. There is no doubt a sampling bias in such surveys; those who have the strongest opinions (pro or con) are more likely to respond.

As there was a need to conduct this process over a relatively short time period, we recognize that there were questions that could have been asked but were not posed. These include (a) a measure of the familiarity of respondents with satellite constellations in general, and (b) a measure of the anticipated impact of satellite constellations as they grow in scale. A number of respondents addressed the latter on their own in their responses, noting that while satellite constellations currently may not pose a major barrier to their observing or astrophotography, they were concerned about what the future could bring. If a follow-up survey is administered when a larger number of satellites has been launched, these two questions will be valuable in parsing the responses and correlating the degrees of impact and attitudes about satellite constellations.

It is heartening that over 560 respondents around the world took the time to respond to this survey. Nevertheless, it would take substantial resources to fully analyze the data (using software such as SPSS) to identify potential correlations between observer type and attitude towards and impact of satellite constellations, for example, and the other cross-tabulations that such a data set offers, and must be weighed against any potential value such an analysis would have in addressing satellite constellations.

The participants in the SATCON2 Town Hall Breakout Room offered both opinions on the current state of affairs and a number of concrete plans of action. There was concern that amateur astronomers are being blindsided; in particular, not enough information is being distributed to the community. Related to this, it was suggested that there has not been sufficient modeling of actual satellites since SATCON1. Concerns were voiced that the problem will become significantly enhanced in the future, as larger launch vehicles make it possible to launch hundreds of small satellites at a time. Discussion ensued around the fact that visibility of satellites depends on latitude and inclination of the orbit, so some regions will be more affected than others. More tracking is needed; the existence of a UK program was noted. Heavens Above Rh