night sky Archives

The Night Sky Is in Danger — The night sky and Milky Way over the Himalayas in Nepal

Five months ago, we reported that a California company called Reflect Orbital planned to place 4,000 solar mirrors in a sun-synchronous orbit to reflect sunlight into Earth’s twilight areas. They claimed it would extend the hours of solar energy production, allow people to work later, improve safety, and boost crop growth. They planned to test the concept in April 2026. (You can find that posting HERE.) Now, space.com reports that they want to place 50,000 orbiting mirrors that are three times larger than the original plan. Are we facing the end of the night sky?

Adding to the Reflect Orbital proposal, in January, Elon Musk’s SpaceX announced plans to launch one million power-hungry data centers into space, where they can utilize solar energy. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) must approve these plans, which they appear to be fast-tracking. Astronomers worldwide are alarmed.

Robert Massey, deputy director of the Royal British Astronomical Society (RAS), objected that these proposals are “absolutely the destruction of a central part of human heritage.” He said, “It would absolutely transform our view of the sky.” RAS and many other research organizations are filing objections with the FCC.

According to Massey, the night sky would be three times brighter because of Reflect Orbital’s sun-reflecting mirrors, and dark-sky sanctuaries where astronomers place their telescopes would be lost. The SpaceX data centers would not be as bright as the mirrors but would still be visible to the naked eye. Astrophysicist Noelia Noel at the UK’s University of Surrey said, “While innovation in satellite technology brings clear societal benefits, scaling to hundreds or even millions of bright objects—or deliberately illuminating the Earth from orbit—risks fundamentally altering the night sky. This would have profound consequences not only for astronomy but also for ecosystems, our cultural heritage, and our collective relationship with the cosmos.”

When the psalmist David admired the night sky, he had no satellites or solar reflectors to get in the way as he wrote, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day, they pour forth speech; night after night, they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” (Psalms 19:1-4) I pray that we will always be able to be in awe of the night sky and see the message of God’s glory it conveys.

Reference: space.com

Phaethon gave us the Best Meteor Show of the Year

This year, 2020, has been a bad year for many things. However, it should be a good year for the Geminid meteor shower. It usually is the best meteor show of the year, but this year it might be even better. It will peak tonight in the late hours of December 13 and early hours of December 14.

If you are familiar with meteor showers, you know that they are caused when the Earth, on its journey around the Sun, passes through the remnants of a comet. As comets travel through our solar system, the Sun’s heat vaporizes the outer layers of those rocky snowballs leaving debris in the comet’s path. When our planet crosses that path, tiny rock fragments enter our atmosphere and burn up as friction with the air superheats them. The annual December Geminid meteor shower is different and not caused by a comet.

One difference is that the Geminids are younger than other annual meteor showers, which people have observed for hundreds or thousands of years. People first observed the August Perseids in A.D. 36. The Lyrids, which occur in April, were recorded by the Chinese in 687 B.C. However, the Geminids were first seen in December 1862. Since then, they have returned every year, and they have gradually become more numerous as they reach more than 100 meteors per hour.

So if a passing comet does not cause the Geminids, what does? Astronomers solved that mystery in 1983 when the Infrared Astronomical Satellite discovered a small asteroid, which they named Phaethon. It travels in a very elliptical orbit around the Sun in a little less than a year-and-a-half. That orbit takes it closer to the Sun than Mercury and then beyond Mars to the asteroid belt. The asteroid becomes superheated in its close pass by the Sun. Phaethon also spins on its axis about every three-and-a-half hours meaning that the surface fries as it faces the Sun’s heat and then freezes in the cold of space. The freezing and thawing crack the surface, and the centrifugal force throws out fragments.

Most of the particles resulting from the rapid temperature change and spin are probably only about a millimeter in diameter. For that reason, astronomers believe that Phaethon was struck by another space object in the recent past, causing more meteoroids, which could explain the Geminid show’s quality. This year should be better than average, because the Moon will be new, meaning we will have a dark sky. Another thing that makes the Geminids the best meteor show of the year is that they came in at a much slower speed, so they move more slowly across the sky.

If you have clear skies and can find a dark place with an open view of the sky, you could be in for a treat. However, for those of us in the north, it will be cold. Wear warm clothes, lean back in a lounge chair, cover yourself with a blanket, and be patient. According to the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, the peak should occur around 8 p.m.EST December 13 (0100 GMT December 14). However, there should be plenty to see for hours before and after that.

As you look at the night sky, remember that the shepherd boy David was looking at the same sky around three millennia ago when he wrote, “The heavens declare the Glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork (Psalms 19:1).” I am sure that David enjoyed an open dark sky with no light pollution from electric lights, but he also didn’t get to see the Geminids, the best meteor show of the year.