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Brightness Characterization for Starlink Direct-to-Cell Satellites

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arxiv 2407.03092 v1 pith:GINHIDWX submitted 2024-07-03 astro-ph.IM

Anthony Mallama , Richard E. Cole , Scott Harrington , J. Respler This is my paper · ORCID
classification astro-ph.IM
keywords brightnessdtcssatellitesstarlinktimesaltitudesantennadirect-to-cell
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The mean apparent magnitude of Starlink Mini Direct-To-Cell (DTC) satellites is 4.62 while the mean of magnitudes adjusted to a uniform distance of 1000 km is 5.50. DTCs average 4.9 times brighter than other Starlink Mini spacecraft at a common distance. We cannot currently separate the effects of the DTC antenna itself, the different attitude modes that may be required for DTC operations and to what extent brightness mitigation procedures were in place at the times of our observations. In a best case scenario, where DTC brightness mitigation is as successful as that for other Minis and the DTC antenna does not add significantly to brightness, we estimate that DTCs will be about 2.6 times as bright as the others based upon their lower altitudes. The DTCs spend a greater fraction of their time in the Earth's shadow than satellites at higher altitudes. That will offset some of their impact on astronomical observing.

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Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

  1. Characterization of Starlink Direct-to-Cell Satellites In Brightness Mitigation Mode

    astro-ph.IM 2025-02 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Starlink Direct-to-Cell satellites in brightness mitigation mode have a mean apparent magnitude of 5.16 and remain about twice as bright as Starlink internet satellites at the same distance.

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