As a hobbyist astrophotographer, this photograph is breaking my heart. Composite image graphically illustrates the growing number of satellites creating light pollution in the night sky

This depicts the satellite-filled sky that is now a reality and getting more crowded every week! This adds together exposures taken over just 30 minutes on an early June night when, from my latitude of 51° N satellites even in low Earth orbit are lit all night by sunlight. Many of the parallel streaks heading generally horizontal west to east (right to left) may be from groups of SpaceX Starlinks. Others traveling vertically north-south are more likely from Earth observation satellites. There is at least one natural streak in the image — a meteor at centre, caught by chance on one frame. It appears as a colored and tapered streak. Other uniform undashed streaks may be from high-altitude satellites moving much more slowly. By comparison, most satellites appear as dashed lines because the image is a blend of many 2-second-long exposures with a gap of one second between exposures when the camera shutter was closed. So the motion of the satellites and image stacking turns them into dashes. The longer the dashes, the faster the satellite is traveling, with the fastest satellites being the lowest. This is looking due south and all the trails disappear low in the south above the trees, as that's where the Earth's shadow is, even on this June night. So the satellites aren't lit when they are in that small part of the sky. They emerge from the shadow heading north and disappear into the shadow heading south. The shadow creates the obvious boundary of where satellite trails are visible. At other times of the year low-orbit satellites are visible only after sunset or before sunrise, especially from lower latitudes. But not near summer solstice, and from higher latitudes. The field of view is about 100° by 75°. (Photo by: Alan Dyer/VWPics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) — (Image credit: Alan Dyer/VWPics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

I’ve always found a fascination with the night sky – there’s something incredibly calming about standing under the stars with a camera. But a growing number of points of light that I see in the sky aren’t even stars at all, which is why this photo grabbed my attention.

Alan Dyer captured this photograph last summer to illustrate how many satellites cross the night sky in a 30-minute time span. The image is a composite, which means that the photographer left his camera shooting for about 30 minutes and blended all the light trails together, so unlike a typical astrophotography shot that’s only a few seconds long, Dyer’s photo represents 30 minutes of the night sky.

While this photo is from 2025, it captured my attention because last week, StarLink launched its 10,000th satellite. Proposed AI data centers based in space and a satellite system to project sunlight to solar power centers could make the night sky even more crowded, making the image even more relevant.

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One of the astrophotography tips that I’ve always found most helpful is to find a more remote location away from city lights. I can photograph far more stars, even occasionally the Milky Way band, when I’m camping out in a remote location.

But the growing number of satellites in the night sky is creating light pollution even in the few places far enough away from city lights on the ground. Satellites create streaks of artificial light across the night sky. They’re often confused for shooting stars, but satellites are usually white or bluish-white, while meteors tend to be more colorful.

In a 2025 survey of more than 200 astrophotographers, 90 percent of them reported a moderate or higher impact from satellites. Photographers reported spending an extra 27 minutes on image editing to remove the impact of satellites on the image, or an average of 16 discarded photos from every night sky session.

The survey predicted that 25,000 satellites would be the “breaking point” when astrophotography would be irreparably harmed. As of January 2025, an estimated 15,000 satellites are in orbit.

The data is disheartening for someone who finds peace photographing the night sky. But, one thing I’m taking away from Dyer’s photograph? The time you photograph the night sky matters, particularly for satellites. Low-orbit satellites are most visible for a few hours after sunset and before sunrise, as the satellites are still reflecting sunlight during this time.

Avoiding that time frame can help avoid some of the impact of satellites. Near the summer solstice and at higher latitudes, however, satellites are visible in the night sky much longer.

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