The astrophotographer of the Caribbean Astronomy Society (SAC), Yarelis Medinacaptured, on Wednesday night, some impressive images in which not only can we see the comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) accompanied by the millions of stars that make up the Milky Waybut his photos also captured some strange lines.
The images, captured from Utuadoshow the passage of comet C/2023, whose trail can still be seen as it moves away from Earth. However, a little above the comet’s tail you can see some striking lines.
“While I was reviewing the photos that I obtained around 6:59 to 7:00 pm yesterday, Wednesday, I noticed some curious lines similar to satellite tracks when images of several seconds are obtained that record their movement, but there were several of them together. “Medina indicated in written statements.
The educational entity explained that these are several English “OneWeb” telecommunications satellites, which form a small constellation. According to the SAC, these satellites, from the company Eutelsatcompete with the service offered by Starlink, a subsidiary of SpaceXwhich has already placed over 6,400 satellites in low orbit to provide internet service.
As recent as last Wednesday, SpaceX placed into orbit another group of 23 Starlink satellites.
OneWeb, at the moment, has 640 satellites in orbit, reported the SAC.
“In that specific area of the sky, OneWeb satellites 0532, 0312, 0295 and 0330 were passing, but on that same trajectory another 20 OneWeb satellites were also placed in orbit that were launched into space on October 19,” he noted. Eddie Irizarryscientific disseminator of the SAC, who added that the images show somewhat wide lines because the photos with several seconds of exposure recorded the passage of several satellites at the same time.
The SAC clarified that because OneWeb satellites orbit the Earth at an altitude of 743 miles and are small, they are usually not visible to the naked eye, but may occasionally be captured in images.