BlueWalker 3 Becomes The Brightest Satellite In The Night Sky To Cause Problems

BlueWalker 3 is the brightest satellite in the night sky in the view of researchers (photo: dock. AST SpaceMobile)

JAKARTA - BlueWalker 3, a prototype satellite belonging to AST SpaceMobile, is one of the brightest objects in the sky at night. This is recorded in the latest research in the journal Nature quoted from The Verge.

In observations made by astronomers in Chile, the United States (US), Mexico, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Morocco, the BlueWalker 3 were identified as Procyon.

Procyon is one of the brightest stars in the constellation Canis Minor. In fact, this star ranks eighth among other stars that can be seen from Earth.

The explanation is that BlueWalker 3 itself has not become a strange thing. The reason is, the wider and wider the satellite area, the bigger the light emitted because the surface of this satellite can reflect light.

This communication satellite has a size of 64 square meters. With this size, BlueWalker 3 is the largest commercial satellite in low earth orbit.

In addition to the light which sometimes reaches magnitude 1, radio waves from BlueWalker 3 also became a concern. This satellite has a strong radio wave that is able to interfere with the work of astronomers.

Not only blocking telescope observations, but also BlueWalker 3 can complicate constellation determination. The resulting light is a problem because astronomers will find it difficult to see nebulae, dust clouds, and other fine details in the night sky.

Despite causing a counter in its launch, BlueWalker 3 has received good support for successfully making two phones connected in audio calls without requiring a cell tower.

However, given how serious the problem of light pollution is for astronomers, AST SpaceMobile needs to fix this problem in the future. The company is expected to be able to minimize light pollution and redesign satellites with less reflection of light.