Museum director and astronomer Dr Ian Griffin has taken issue with the batches of Starlink satellites launched by SpaceX labelling them "celestial vermin".
Walter Baade was a giant of 20th-century astronomy. He is celebrated for accurately calculating the distance to the Andromeda galaxy by carefully studying variations of a particular class of star called Cepheids. During his distinguished career, Baade also discovered several asteroids. He wasn't a fan, referring to them as "vermin of the sky" because their trails spoiled photographs of galaxies he was studying.
Baade's phrase came to mind one morning last week.
I was standing beside Papanui Inlet, hoping to get pictures of comet Swan. Having set up my telescope and located the comet I began a sequence of photographs. I relaxed and savoured the magnificent Milky Way high overhead. Unfortunately, soon after 6am, my cosmic ruminations were rudely interrupted by the passage of 60 bright satellites in a line which took nearly five minutes to cross the sky. I had been Starlinked.
![SpaceX Starlink satellites fly high above Papanui inlet. Photo / Ian Griffin](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/76ZUFUSJPENICXSHQCXZ7RDYQM.jpg?auth=740ebe8e4373ef7e1cc62afeec96913e8f9a82af35d9c2cad9c4a331af1c2a0a&width=16&height=14&quality=70&smart=true)