Soon, 1 out of every 15 points of light in the sky will be asatellite [Video]

I’m outside at my rural Saskatchewan farm, chatting with my neighbours who I’ve invited over to appreciate the night sky through my telescope. After exclamations and open-mouthed wonder over Saturn’s rings, and light that has been travelling through space for more than two million years to reach our eyes from the Andromeda Galaxy, our conversation inevitably turns to the pandemic, our work-from-home arrangements and complaints about rural internet. My neighbour casually mentions they’ve just switched to using Starlink for their internet provider.

I glance up and notice a bright satellite moving across the sky, almost certainly a Starlink, since they now make up almost half of the nearly 4,000 operational satellites and they’re extremely bright. I take a deep breath and carefully consider how to discuss the substantial cost that we’re all going to have to pay for Starlink internet.

I don’t blame my neighbours for switching. Here, as in many rural parts of North America, there …