How Vera C. Rubin telescope could halve interference from satellites

A telescope at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory could cut satellite interference in its images by half by sacrificing about 10 per cent of the time spent observing the night sky

Space



22 December 2022

By Jeremy Hsu

A telescope at the $473 million Vera C. Rubin Observatory, under construction in Chile, could cut the visual interference from satellites in its images by half – but at the cost of sacrificing about 10 per cent of the time spent observing the night sky. That may become necessary as growing swarms of commercial satellites fill the night sky and outshine stars, planets and other objects of interest.

The US-funded observatory will house a telescope that looks for near-Earth asteroids and distant …