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Science
Michael J. I. Brown, Associate Professor in Astronomy, Monash University

BlueWalker 3, an enormous and bright communications satellite, is genuinely alarming astronomers

Trail from BlueWalker 3 above Kitt Peak telescope in Arizona. KPNO/NOIRLab/IAU/SKAO/NSF/AURA/R. Sparks

The night sky is a shared wilderness. On a dark night, away from the city lights, you can see the stars in the same way as your ancestors did centuries ago. You can see the Milky Way and the constellations associated with stories of mythical hunters, sisters and journeys.

But like any wilderness, the night sky can be polluted. Since Sputnik 1 in 1957, thousands of satellites and pieces of space junk have been launched into orbit.

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