Going, going, nearly gone
Mankind’s view of the night skies is vanishing. But following a few simple rules could bring the stars back into sight
ASTRONOMERS are not, as a rule, given to Schadenfreude. But at the moment many of them are cheering mightily the misfortunes of others. At the beginning of September Iridium, the world's first satellite-telephone network, which went bust a year ago, was switched off for good. Over the next few weeks Motorola, the network's owner, will “de-orbit” its 66 satellites (ie, crash them into the earth's atmosphere, where they will burn up). And that firework display will be accompanied by the popping of champagne corks in radio-astronomy observatories the world over.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Going, going, nearly gone”
From the September 9th 2000 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionDiscover more
Elon Musk is causing problems for the Royal Society
His continued membership has led to a high-profile resignation
Deforestation is costing Brazilian farmers millions
Without trees to circulate moisture, the land is getting hotter and drier
Robots can learn new actions faster thanks to AI techniques
They could soon show their moves in settings from car factories to care homes
Scientists are learning why ultra-processed foods are bad for you
A mystery is finally being solved
Scientific publishers are producing more papers than ever
Concerns about some of their business models are building
The two types of human laugh
One is caused by tickling; the other by everything else