Thousands of satellites interfering with stargazers' photography

EVERGLADES, Fla. (WINK) — Astrophotographers in Southwest Florida are facing a new challenge as thousands of satellites increasingly interfere with their nighttime sky photography.

Richard Sherman, a member of the Everglades Astronomical Society, spends hours in the Glades capturing images of distant galaxies and constellations. He uses an EQ 6r mount weighing about 38 pounds as part of his setup.

"It's an extraordinarily complicated piece of equipment," Sherman said.

The equipment costs around $6,000. Sherman takes a series of images, each lasting 1 to 3 minutes, and stacks them to create detailed photographs of celestial objects such as the Leo Triplet in the constellation Leo.

"I think we all have this kind of mystical, soulful experience," Sherman said. "Why am I here? My god, is that all out there?"

Sherman didn't realize what was out there until he finally saw the Milky Way. He believes photography and astrophotography are so fun because a picture is worth 1,000 words.

Getting the perfect shot of the Milky Way is hard enough, but now astrophotographers have to work around something else. Astrophotographer Derek Mellen says the satellites are becoming a big problem.

"They're adding 1,000s and 1,000s, if not 10s of 1,000s, of satellites, so you end up getting streaks across your photos," Mellen said.

Satellites power GPS and internet services. Companies now want to deploy AI data centers in space because they can access free solar power and cooling.

"That could be an issue when they start putting millions of satellites up," Mellen said.

The problem extends beyond ruined photos. Some of the big observatories find that satellites can actually start to blind the instruments because they are so bright.

Technology is starting to save astrophotographers. Software in computers can go through photos and remove the satellites, and so far, it's doing a good job.

As the sky gets more crowded, Mellen worries it might become a problem that technology can't solve. It's a modern-day tradeoff between technological advancement and preserving the night sky.

"You need it for certain things, and then it's not good for others," Mellen said. "So if they could find a balance that everyone can be happy with, that would be the optimal solution."