Light from satellites will ruin majority of some space telescope images, study says

Reflections cast by a growing number of satellites orbiting the Earth could ruin more than 95 percent of images taken by some space telescopes in the next decade, according to a NASA-led study. The reflected light shows up as streaks called satellite trails. It's been seen in images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The situation is only getting worse as more satellites accumulate in orbit, according to researchers. The study predicts that other telescopes could deliver streak-filled images, including NASA's SPHEREx, the European Space Agency's ARRAKIHS, and China's Xuntian Space Telescope. The problem has grown in recent years: More satellites have been launched within the last four years "than in the previous 70 years of space flight combined," said NASA scientist Alejandro Borlaff.