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Reading an interesting article in The Economist about stratospheric air pollution from satellite re-entries, I noticed a photo of a house and the night sky... I usually expect to notice star patterns in cases like this within a minute. In this case after staring at the image for five minutes, I was getting nowhere. But I'll offer this: it's "solvable"... It's not a "fake" sky. It's certainly challenging. What are you looking at, and what is your latitude, based strictly on the astronomy in the photo?

Incidentally, this new form of air pollution is a real threat. It's conservatively estimated that unusual metals from incinerated satellites already constitute ten percent of the influx of material from space (which has been natural meteorites until the 21st century). This fraction is expected to rise dramatically as satellite mega-constellations expand. The visual impact of such satellites has been discussed often in recent years, and Musk/SpaceX Starlink satellites are usually seen as the threat. But other satellite constellations, from other countries and from other "sectors" (military mega-constellations, coming soon), will be an even bigger threat, and they could very soon make the night sky an alien thing. And as those satellites re-enter on a regular basis and burn up, they could become an unplanned climate experiment a dozen times more significant and potentially more dangerous than industrial carbon dioxide.

But never mind that doom and gloom... Focus on the challenge. Based on the photo, what is your latitude?

Frank Reed
Clockwork Mapping / ReedNavigation.com
Conanicut Island, North America

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