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Dark and quiet skies in focus at the General Assembly
from Contact 16
BY JOSHUA RODDEN AND MATHIEU ISIDRO (SKAO)
One of the key themes of the 32nd IAU General Assembly in Cape Town was the protection of dark and quiet skies from satellite constellation interference, which featured in several sessions, news announcements, and a newly passed resolution.
With more than 2,500 participants from 109 countries, the General Assembly provided a unique opportunity to raise awareness of the growing impact of satellite constellations on astronomy amongst professional astronomers. The meeting saw a powerful statement from the organisation’s 12,000-strong membership, who for the first time passed a resolution on this issue. The resolution formally includes the protection of dark and quiet skies in the IAU’s mandate, and aims to increase advocacy with governments to unlock more funding, encourage collaboration between industry and the astronomy community, support the adoption of mitigating technology, and establish regulations.
“Because this is now clearly articulated [by the IAU], we can take that as an international position; we can share it with other societies, we can share it with regulatory bodies, we can provide it as informational background, as we make our case that this is a part of space sustainability, it is really a requirement for protecting astronomy,” said Dr Richard Green, interim Director of the IAU Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference (CPS).
The CPS held a media briefing introducing the centre and its activities and announcing a US$750,000 (€677,000) grant from the US National Science Foundation awarded to the centre’s SatHub to support the development of publicly accessible software to mitigate the impact of satellites on observations. These tools will provide astronomers with precise predictions of satellites’ positions, passage times, and brightness, which “will improve observatories’ ability to reduce the frequency of satellite passes affecting observations, therefore improving science outcomes”, said Dr Connie Walker, CoDirector of the CPS and co-PI on the grant proposal.
The CPS also held a dedicated session for astronomers, with over 40 speakers providing updates across the centre’s four hubs of activity. A particular highlight was the participation of industry representatives, which provided attendees valuable insights into the motivations and future plans of the satellite operating sector.
Finally, a CPS booth attracted visitors throughout the two weeks of the conference, with videos explaining each of the CPS hubs’ activities and introducing key concepts behind satellite constellations, and a new virtual reality simulation showing what the night sky would look like with 400,000 satellites in orbit, an estimate of the potential number by 2030. A brochure was also produced for the occasion, and is available here.
