Starlink

AI × astronomy

Satellite trails in 1 in 6 VST images: how neural networks find them

In 2023 the VLT Survey Telescope on Cerro Paranal recorded 1,246,048 CCD frames with its OmegaCAM imager. A team led by Elisabeth Rachith at EPFL ran all of them through a deep-learning streak detector, and their June 2026 preprint reports 25,335 streaks from satellites, rocket bodies and debris, with at least one in 16.9% of exposures. In the months checked by hand, about a fifth of the confirmed streaks matched nothing in the public satellite catalogue. Below: how these networks work, what the VST numbers say, and why a stack of backyard subs mostly doesn’t need one. ...

A line of evenly spaced Starlink satellites crossing a deep-blue twilight sky above the painted town hall on Tübingen's market square

Beginner stargazing

Plane, satellite or space station? How to identify a moving light in the night sky

A point of light is sliding across the sky, silently, and you want to know what it is. You can almost always answer that in about ten seconds with four checks. Look at whether it blinks, whether it moves in a dead-straight line at an even pace, whether it fades out in the middle of the sky, and how long it lasts. No gear needed, and a free pass-prediction website will confirm your guess afterwards. The key below is the one I use from my balcony in Nicosia; the sections after it explain each line. ...

Artemis I, Crew-4, & Starlink Rockets on the Pad

Space news

SpaceX went public at $1.77 trillion — what that means for the night sky

On June 12, SpaceX raised $75 billion in the largest initial public offering in history. The company listed on the Nasdaq at $135 per share, valuing the business at approximately $1.77 trillion — putting it among the ten most valuable public companies on Earth. Within hours of the listing, a Falcon 9 carrying 29 Starlink satellites lifted off from Cape Canaveral. The symbolism wasn’t accidental. The reason SpaceX commands that valuation isn’t Starship, and it isn’t the Artemis HLS contract. It’s 10,400 satellites already in orbit, beaming internet to paying subscribers in 75+ countries. Starlink generates an estimated 58% of SpaceX’s total revenue. When public investors bought SpaceX stock this week, they bought a satellite internet company that also happens to build rockets. ...