Reflectors of light in space

Satellite tracks observed for one hour over the northern Atacama Desert in Chile, October 2025. Credit: F. Kamphues, ESO/M. Kornmesser.

More than a million satellites could make the night sky three times brighter

A new model has examined how light reflected from satellites and mirrors in space affects astronomical cameras and the brightness of the night sky. The results show that even dim satellites can erase parts of wide-field sky images,