{"id":758805,"date":"2026-07-12T16:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T16:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/758805\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T16:18:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T16:18:11","slug":"vantablack-worlds-blackest-paint-could-solve-a-major-problem-for-astronomy-sciencealert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/758805\/","title":{"rendered":"Vantablack: World’s Blackest Paint Could Solve A Major Problem For Astronomy : ScienceAlert"},"content":{"rendered":"

Low Earth orbit<\/a> is becoming increasingly crowded with satellites, and they’re quietly erasing our view of the Universe.<\/p>\n

There are currently over 14,000 of them in orbit<\/a>, a number that’s rising quickly. That’s a real issue for astronomers.<\/p>\n

So-called satellite-induced light pollution<\/a> is already interfering with a significant number<\/a> of images captured by observatories on Earth, and with thousands more low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites planned, the problem is only going to get worse.<\/p>\n

“The night sky is one of humanity’s oldest windows into the Universe,” says<\/a> astrophysicist Astha Chaturvedi from the University of Surrey.<\/p>\n

“But it is becoming increasingly difficult to see things.”<\/p>\n

Chaturvedi and a team of researchers in the UK think they might have the answer: Vantablack 310, a specific formulation of one of the blackest materials<\/a> ever developed, intended for use on spacecraft.<\/p>\n

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In lab tests, coating satellites with Vantablack 310 meant that only 2 percent of incoming light was reflected.<\/p>\n

“Our results show that relatively simple material choices could make a meaningful difference to how satellites affect astronomical observations without requiring major changes to mission design,” says<\/a> Chaturvedi.<\/p>\n

The researchers used physics models to test the black coating’s performance at different points in orbit \u2013 a shiny satellite is more reflective over snow than over the open ocean<\/a>, for example.<\/p>\n

At its most reflective, the Vantablack 310 satellite scored between 6.7 and 7.0 on the AB magnitude<\/a> scale (lower values indicate brighter). <\/p>\n

\"SatelliteReflective satellites are getting in the way of stargazing. (Joshua Rozells)<\/a><\/p>\n

Many simulated orbits produced results comfortably above this, with values reaching 7.1 to 7.8.<\/p>\n

That worst-case figure of 6.7 is just below the magnitude-7 threshold for satellite and orbiting-object brightness recommended<\/a> by the International Astronomical Union.<\/p>\n

It’s also much better than the magnitude 3.7 scored by an uncoated SpaceX satellite tested by the researchers. <\/p>\n

\"Subscribe<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s worth mentioning that SpaceX has also tested methods to reduce satellite brightness<\/a> under the names DarkSat and VisorSat. Vantablack 310 proved comparable to or better than these as well.<\/p>\n

“Under identical geometric and areal assumptions, the coated surface yields peak brightness values that are fainter than those reported for uncoated Starlink chassis, and comparable to or fainter than DarkSat and VisorSat variants,” write<\/a> the researchers in their published paper.<\/p>\n

In addition, the team used an electron microscope<\/a> to see how the ultra-black coating affected the treated satellite. <\/p>\n

They found<\/a> it created “coral-like features with cavity-like depressions”, evidence of the physical properties that are doing the light trapping.<\/p>\n

\"VantablackUnder a scanning electron microscope, Vantablack 310 has a “coral-like” appearance. (Chaturvedi et al., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 2026)<\/p>\n

Vantablack 310 is a relatively new version of the original material<\/a>, designed to be easier to apply and harder-wearing \u2013 though, as the researchers point out, all of this still needs to be put to the test in space.<\/p>\n

“We emphasize that this study addresses optical performance only,” write<\/a> the researchers. <\/p>\n

“Spacecraft-level thermal behavior, environmental durability, and system integration require dedicated thermal-vacuum testing and in-orbit validation and are therefore beyond the scope of this work.”<\/p>\n

Further experiments are already in the pipeline, and Vantablack 310 is set to be used on an upcoming CubeSat mission called Jovian-1<\/a>. This will allow researchers to take real-world brightness measurements from the ground while the satellite is in orbit.<\/p>\n

If we’re going to be increasingly reliant on these LEO satellites for communication systems (and maybe even AI data centers<\/a>), it shouldn’t come at the cost of being able to get a full view of the night sky.<\/p>\n

These initial tests show that Vantablack 310 can help \u2013 even if we’d still need a different solution for the space debris problem<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Related: Scientists Have Just Found a Way to Detect Nuclear Weapons in Space<\/a><\/p>\n

“Space is becoming increasingly crowded, creating challenges not only for astronomers but for everyone who values an unspoiled night sky,” says<\/a> astrophysicist Noelia No\u00ebl from the University of Surrey.<\/p>\n

“What is encouraging about this research is that it moves us beyond simply identifying the problem and towards developing practical, evidence-based solutions.”<\/p>\n

The research has been published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article was fact-checked by Michael Irving<\/a> and edited by Rebecca Dyer<\/a>. While we pride ourselves on our process, we are only human. If you spot a mistake, please let us know<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Low Earth orbit is becoming increasingly crowded with satellites, and they’re quietly erasing our view of the Universe.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":758806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[1352,79],"class_list":["post-758805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-msft-content","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=758805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/758806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}