Amazon’s 180 web satellites are already too shiny. It desires 3,000 extra.

Amazon is racing to catch as much as Starlink within the battle for satellite tv for pc web dominance, and it’s creating issues for everybody else. Only 180 of the proposed 3,236 Amazon Leo satellites are at the moment in low Earth orbit, however they’re already routinely shiny sufficient to disrupt astronomical analysis, in keeping with a forthcoming study. And of the practically 2,000 observations performed in the course of the evaluation, 25 p.c have been decided to “distract from aesthetic appreciation of the night sky.”

Amazon introduced its satellite tv for pc broadband web firm, initially referred to as Project Kuiper, in 2019, however struggled for years to get the endeavor up and working. Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s Starlink has made large strides in its personal satellite tv for pc web constellation—whereas additionally garnering a lot of its personal criticisms. Amazon lastly launched its first tools into orbit in April 2025 earlier than swapping the Project Kuiper identify for Leo final November. Service is predicted to start after 578 satellites attain orbit, and Leo’s present licensing settlement stipulates it will need to have half of its constellation deployed by July 30, 2026.

Representatives of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) don’t sound very happy by the progress to this point, nonetheless. As the main international consortium of astronomy specialists, the IAU helps form public area coverage whereas additionally serving because the group formally answerable for naming and classifying all celestial objects. Its Center for the Protection of a Dark and Quiet Sky additionally has lengthy maintained two clearly established brightness limits for orbiting objects—one to make sure astronomical analysis isn’t impeded, and one other to preserve the “natural beauty of the stars.”

“The International Astronomical Union recommended an acceptable brightness limit which states that satellites in operational orbits should not be visible to the unaided eye,” the IAU authors explained in their study. “The IAU statement also defined a brightness limit for interference with professional astronomy which we call the research limit.”

The IAU has repeatedly voiced its considerations about night time sky light pollution, particularly as a number of corporations vow to ship 1000’s of extra satellites into an already crowded low Earth orbit. So it’s notably regarding when solely 180 of Leo’s deployments are elevating crimson flags for each the suitable brightness and analysis limits. After conducting 1,938 observations of Leo satellites at the moment deployed, the IAU decided the tools reveals a mean brightness magnitude of 6.28. For reference, the faintest stars seen in a wonderfully darkish night sky register a 6.0 magnitude. Although that makes them faint sufficient to usually miss with the bare eye, the satellites nonetheless regularly replicate flaring gentle that’s discernible and not using a telescope. The IAU additionally beforehand acknowledged all satellites must be beneath a 7.15 magnitude, however a few of Leo’s satellites have been “consistently brighter.” The general findings weren’t any higher, both. 

“For spacecraft in their operational mode, 92 percent exceeded the brightness limit recommended by the IAU for interference with research, while 25 percent distract from aesthetic appreciation of the night sky,” they concluded.

The IAU notes that “based on private communication, Amazon is working on reducing satellite brightness,” together with the event of a specialized dark exterior coating. At the identical time, the research authors cautioned these treatments might not be sufficient. Leo’s present satellites all orbit at a mean altitude of 391 miles, however Amazon possesses a Federal Communications Commission approval to function at heights as little as 366 miles. That might make for a good brighter constellation—one which will drown out the constellations people have gazed at for lots of of 1000’s of years.