When citylight erased the night sky, astronomy shifted to rural corners of the world. Now, Starlink and other internet constellations are threatening the darkest astronomical skies – even as communities in those rural places hold out the promise for equitable access.

A huge (!!!) thanks to my amazing interviewees for their time and energy:

– Dr. Becky has an awesome YouTube Channel! Go check out her videos! @Dr. Becky​

– Tim Dodd has a *PROLIFIC* YouTube Channel, bringing space down to earth for everyday people @Everyday Astronaut​

– Meredith Rawls, PhD at the University of Washington writes incredible algorithms to analyze enormous astronomy image datasets for important changes. Her team is prepping for the first light of the Vera Rubin Observatory in 2022.

– Melvinjohn Ashue, born and raised at the Hoh Reservation on the Pacific Coast of the Olympic Peninsula. Melvinjohn lead the effort to get internet to the Hoh Reservation as Executive Development Director of the Hoh Tribe.

Huge thanks to my friend Derek from @Veritasium​ for his cameo as a Starlink user 🙂

Research references available here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/47774962​

All footage shown is either CC BY, Public Domain, or Used with Permission:

Hubble Ultra Deep Field NASA & ESA
Footage of Tim Dodd Tim Dodd, Everyday Astronaut
Starship Footage Rachel and Gene of @SpacePadreIsle
Starlink Falcon 9 Launch Tim Dodd, Everyday Astronaut
Audio from Starlink Launch in January 2020 SpaceX
Gerard Kuiper 1964b Gelderen, Hugo van / Anefo
Mattei Athena Public Domain
Spider Cross Webb Grauvision
The Earth seen from Apollo 17 NASA Public Domain
Lasilla Aerial Shot ESO: Liam Young
SpaceX Starlink Objects May 5, 2019 Marco Langbroek
KT Impact Artist Depiction NASA Public Domain
“These are the asteroids to worry about” Veritasium
The unique rocky comet C/2014 S3 (PANSTARRS) ESO:L. Calçada
Hubble Light Echo NASA Public Domain
ALMA Timelapse ESO:C. Malin (christophmalin.com)
CMBR Public Domain
M87 Black Hole Event Horizon Telescope
The EHT and Global mm-VLBI Array on the Earth ESO/O. Furtak
US Radio Frequency Allocations Public Domain
Veil Nebula – NGC6960 Ken Crawford
Opportunity at Rub al Khali NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell
CRS-11 Landing SpaceX
Starlink Launch 6-3-2020 SpaceX
Unboxing Starlink Satellite Internet Adventures With Kramer
Hoh Tribe Melvinjohn Ashue
Road in Tanzania David Wuyts, Swiss Humanity
Solar Flare NASA Public Domain
Hubble Space Telescope NASA Public Domain
STS-129 NASA Public Domain
James Webb Space Telescope Mirror NASA/MSFC/David Higginbotham/Emmett Given
VLT Paranal ESO: Liam Young
Starlink Trails Egon Filter
Inside UT1 (time-lapse) ESO:José Francisco Salgado (josefrancisco.org)
Jeff’s Earth 4K NASA Public Domain