{"id":491362,"date":"2026-06-13T20:37:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T20:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/491362\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T20:37:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T20:37:26","slug":"new-spherex-space-telescope-images-confirm-a-major-problem-that-many-astronomers-were-afraid-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/491362\/","title":{"rendered":"New SPHEREx Space Telescope Images Confirm a Major Problem That Many Astronomers Were Afraid Of"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly three out of every four images obtained by NASA\u2019s new SPHEREx space telescope<\/a> revealed something many astronomers were afraid of: contamination by artificial objects humans are launching into space.<\/p>\n

The findings were reported in a new preprint paper by researchers at NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center, who say that 73.3% of all the images the telescope captured over four months last summer revealed evidence of at least one trail left by SpaceX satellites<\/a> or other orbital spacecraft.<\/p>\n

What may be worst of all is that astronomers aren\u2019t surprised.<\/p>\n

With its mission to map the night sky in near-infrared light, NSA\u2019s Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) relies on long-exposure imagery that enables it to map large regions of the sky with every viewing.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, long-exposure photography is also ideal for capturing the movement of satellites, an increasing number of which<\/a> have been placed in orbit in recent years.<\/p>\n

Equally troubling is the fact that SPHEREx<\/a>, from its own position in Earth orbit, had been positioned at an altitude where it was hoped that the number of satellite streaks could be limited. Yet despite such efforts, the new paper featured at the arXiv preprint server reports that, on average, at least two satellite trails were detected in every exposure.<\/p>\n

Satellites Mistaken for Cosmic Rays<\/p>\n

Astronomers have been raising concerns about this problem already for some time, and presently, there doesn\u2019t appear to be any near-term solution.<\/p>\n

Even beyond image contamination, the preprint study also found that several satellites that enter SPHEREx\u2019s field of view are bright enough that they are also triggering the space telescope\u2019s automated system that protects its delicate components from stray cosmic rays.<\/p>\n

Designed to shut down the telescope\u2019s data collection when it detects what it suspects are cosmic rays, the new research reveals that some satellites reflect enough light to engage algorithms that control this defense system.<\/p>\n

Even in instances where imagery is successfully obtained, albeit with contamination from satellites, the brightness of these orbital objects can effectively obscure objects behind the portions of the telescope\u2019s images where the satellites appeared.<\/p>\n

\"satelliteIn the images above, several examples of satellite trails are shown in SPHEREx imagery collected during the summer months of 2025 Image Credit: NASA\/Borlaff, et al\/arXiv.org).
\nA Growing Concern<\/p>\n

The new SphereX findings are only the latest indication that astronomers were right to be concerned about potential light pollution from satellites. In a past study by Sando Kruk and colleagues, Hubble Telescope images had shown an increase in the number of satellites crossing its field of view, rising from contamination shown in just 2.8% of its images, to 5.9% over a period of two decades.<\/p>\n

Ideas about how to prevent the issue have focused on using anti-reflective coatings on satellites and other means of reducing their brightness once they reach orbit. However, many modern satellites are large enough that having darker exteriors doesn\u2019t help to significantly mitigate the amount of light they can reflect.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the study\u2019s authors note that \u201cOptical reflections are just a fraction of the problem, since satellites also emit and reflect [infrared],\u201d meaning that optical darkening efforts \u201cmight even increase their temperature, making them brighter in the IR.\u201d<\/p>\n

Worse Before It Gets Better<\/p>\n

According to the study\u2019s authors, the problem is likely to worsen before astronomers see any improvements.<\/p>\n

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\u201cRemarkably, some private operators have announced the intent of deploying 4000 purposely high reflective satellites,\u201d the researchers write, which aim to provide \u201csunlight on demand.\u201d Such artificial orbital systems<\/a>, if successfully deployed, would reflect light as much as five times the brightness of the full Moon onto areas of the Earth roughly five kilometers in diameter.<\/p>\n

This, the team argues, would potentially have \u201ca catastrophic impact to the quality of the dark sky and the Earth\u2019s inhabitants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fundamentally, the authors hope that bringing additional attention to such issues with their recent study may help to mitigate future concerns about our ever-brightening night sky.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe widespread contamination addressed in this paper affects multiple areas of astronomical research,\u201d the team says, which they say includes \u201cthe study of transient phenomena, deep imaging surveys, spectroscopic studies, and the search for Near-Earth Objects (NEOs), thereby hindering our ability to understand the Universe and protect the Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new paper<\/a> by Alejandro S. Borlaff and colleagues, \u201cSPHEREx confirms predictions for artificial satellite trail pollution in Low Earth Orbit,\u201d appeared at the preprint arXiv server.<\/p>\n

Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. A longtime reporter on science, defense, and technology with a focus on space and astronomy, he can be reached at\u00a0micah@thedebrief.org<\/a>. Follow him on X\u00a0@MicahHanks<\/a>, and at\u00a0micahhanks.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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