Starlink Generation 2 Mini Satellites: Photometric Characterization
Anthony Mallama, Richard E. Cole, Scott Harrington, Andreas Hornig, Jay Respler, Aaron Worley, Ron Lee
Abstract
Starlink Generation 2 Mini satellites are fainter than Gen 1 spacecraft despite their larger size. The mean of apparent magnitudes for satellites in brightness mitigation mode is 7.06 +/- 0.10. When these magnitudes are adjusted to a uniform distance of 1,000 km that mean is 7.87 +/- 0.09. The brightness mitigation mode reduces distance-adjusted satellite luminosity by a factor of 12 relative to spacecraft that are not mitigated.
Linked by 3 identifiable commenters in 3 comments across 3 threads, from Sep 2023 to Apr 2025. Found in 1 HN submission from Jun 2023 to Jun 2023. Open submission discussions.
Can't tell if you're joking or not, but SpaceX has indeed been collaborating with astronomical observatories to reduce the apparent magnitude (brightness) to ground for Starlink satellites. It's not as if the potential issues weren't apparent and reported on pretty early on, ie…
> If these LEO satellites can be darkened to 7th magnitude, then a new instrument signature removal algorithm can remove some of the residual artifacts. The current generation of Starlink satellites is already above the 7th magnitude, so it no longer saturates the CCD. [1] Of…
I think they meant to post a different link. The latest satellites are dimmer than 7 apparent magnitude (meeting the AAS recommendation) despite being 4x larger. https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.06657
Can't tell if you're joking or not, but SpaceX has indeed been collaborating with astronomical observatories to reduce the apparent magnitude (brightness) to ground for Starlink satellites. It's not as if the potential issues weren't apparent and reported on pretty early on, ie…
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