Comet Lemmon, blazing a trail across the Northern Hemisphere’s skies in recent months, has captivated amateur astronomers eager to capture its celestial dance through astrophotography. While many photographers showcase stunning images of the comet’s luminous coma and flowing tail, others have turned their lenses onto a different spectacle: the ever-increasing web of satellites blanketing our night sky.
These striking photos reveal Comet Lemmon surrounded not by starry solitude but by an intricate network of thin, ghostly streaks—each one tracing the path of a satellite during a brief camera exposure.
Astrophotographers like Dan Bartlett report that capturing a single “clean” image without these streaks is nearly impossible. “Every single subframe I take… contains at least one, and usually more than one satellite streak,” he explains.
The culprit? A sky choked by orbital debris. There are currently around 13,000 operational satellites orbiting Earth, a staggering number spearheaded by SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, which boasts nearly 9,000 spacecraft. SpaceX alone aims to deploy another 42,000 Starlinks, while competitors launch their own “megaconstellations,” exponentially increasing the satellite population.
This dramatic rise in orbital traffic presents a challenge for anyone seeking a pristine view of celestial wonders. However, astrophotographers aren’t surrendering to the streaks just yet. Powerful editing tools offer a lifeline.
“Despite the enormous increase in satellite traffic over the past few years, eliminating the satellite trails in post-processing is actually fairly simple using the right tools,” says Bartlett. While the visual blight is undeniable, he adds that it doesn’t entirely diminish the allure of observing the night sky—sometimes even a passing satellite sighting can be an unexpected thrill.
The solution lies in capturing numerous short exposures over a single session. These individual images are then meticulously stacked using specialized software that sifts through each pixel. A median value is calculated for each point, effectively discarding outlier values—the ghostly streaks caused by satellites zipping across the frame.
This meticulous process often requires at least a dozen images to ensure adequate data for the algorithm, as explained by astrophotographer Chris Schur: “If you take at least a dozen images to stack…you can use a combine method called Sigma Rejection.”
The end result is an impressive composite image that showcases the raw beauty of Comet Lemmon—a cosmic relic locked in its ancient dance around the sun since planetary formation billions of years ago.
This technical triumph underscores a crucial point: humanity’s pursuit of technological progress, particularly in space-based communication and internet access, comes at a cost. While megaconstellations promise to connect vast swathes of the globe, they simultaneously obscure our view of the cosmos.
