2021/11/18 by Anthony Mallama, Mallama, Anthony · 1 citation
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Adaptive optics and wavefront sensing #FOS: Physical sciences #Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) #Space Satellite Systems and Control #Spacecraft Design and Technology #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2111.09735
openalex publication_date 2021/11/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Magnitudes for the VisorSat and Original-design types were analyzed separately and by time. Mean values are compared with those from other large-scale photometric studies, and some signficant differences are noted. The illumination phase functions for Starlink satellites indicate strong forward scattering of sunlight. They are also time-dependent on a scale of months and years. These phase functions improve the predictability of satellite magnitudes. A Starlink Brightness Function tailored to the satellite shape also improves magnitude predictions. Brightness flares lasting a few seconds are characterized and the mean rate of magnitude variation during a pass is determined. Observation planning tools, including graphs and statistics of predicted magnitudes, are discussed and illustrated.