David Galadí-Enríquez

Space debris and satellites orbiting close to Earth have proliferated in recent years. Two articles in Nature Astronomy warn of their impact on light pollution. In the first, a team calculates the increase in the brightness of the night sky and warns of the effect on ecosystems and astronomical observations from Earth. In the second, which is a commentary, the authors call for limiting the production of artificial light and the number of satellites in orbit, calling on the scientific community to take on the big space and big light companies. Both articles are co-signed by Salvador Bará, from the Agrupación Astronómica Coruñesa, and the second by Fabio Falchi, from the University of Santiago de Compostela.

Early this morning, the Spanish air navigation manager restricted a strip of airspace due to the possible passage of the Chinese space object CZ-5B, which had detached from the Long-March 5B rocket. The fragment finally fell over the Pacific Ocean and Spanish airspace is no longer restricted.

An analysis published in Nature Astronomy quantifies the risk to human life posed by impacts of space rocket fragments on Earth, which are more likely to occur in the southern part of the planet.