Canarian astronomer's Neowise footage 'littered' with SpaceX satellites

Thursday night was our last chance to see the comet for another 6,500 years – a phenomenon that, in 2020, has knocked the usual late-summer Perseides meteorite shower off its throne – and social media has filled up with shots of it of varying degrees of clarity.

But astro-photographer Daniel López's footage has sparked more controversy than any: His close-up shows how space is 'polluted' with satellites.

A total of 17 pictures, each taken over a 30-second time-lapse, from the Canary Islands, the photo of the Neowise is marred by hundreds of Starlinks, launched into the ether as part of a SpaceX project to bring satellite-based internet to the whole of planet Earth.

Daniel's Facebook caption says: “Brilliant, but a shame to see all these light points – in total nearly 20 pictures of the comet are blocked by their traces.”

To date, SpaceX has launched 540 high-speed internet-generating satellites into orbit, but has permission for a total of 12,000, and has recently applied for a licence to send another 30,000 into space.

This 'space pollution' has sparked widespread criticism among astronomers – partly because the artificial light in orbit is beginning to show on the edges of our planet, and partly for technical reasons, since professional and amateur star-gazers find their photos and videos of different parts of the universe marred by satellites, preventing them from obtaining clear shots.

The above photograph is a fragment of the footage taken by Daniel López, shown on Facebook and on his astronomy website, Elcielodecanarias.com ('The Canarian Sky').