Satellite Streaks in HETDEX: Spectra, Orbital Identification, and Survey Impact
11 affiliations
- 1The University of Texas at Austin
- 2E. A. Milne Centre for Astrophysics University of Hull
- 3University of Hull
- 4Baylor University
- 5University of Oxford
- 6Yunnan University
- 7Waseda University
- 8Missouri University of Science and Technology
- 9The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study (UTIAS)
- 10The Pennsylvania State University
- 11University of Washington
Abstract
We present a spectroscopic database and analysis of satellite streaks in Public Data Release 1 (PDR1) from the Hobby–Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX), covering 6778 observations and ∼90 deg ² of sky from 2017 January to 2024 July. We detect 527 streaks across 492 observations, a contamination fraction of 7.3% that rises to monthly values above 20% by 2023–2024, although the streaks mask only 0.09% of the survey area. Of the 527 streaks, 475 (90.1%) are identified with a cataloged object using archival two-line elements: 258 (54%) lie in low or medium Earth orbit, and 217 (46%) are geostationary or highly elliptical. Only 35% were launched since 2010; the rest are spent rocket bodies, debris, and older spacecraft. This reflects HETDEX’s sensitivity to faint objects and its 2017–2024 observing baseline. The Hobby–Eberly Telescope’s large 10 m aperture and HETDEX’s ∼6 minute exposures result in similar observed magnitudes for low Earth orbit (LEO) and geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) objects (median g AB = 16.2 ± 1.1 for LEO, 16.7 ± 1.1 for GEO). However, once transit time is corrected for, instantaneous magnitudes differ widely: g inst = 7.4 for LEO versus g inst = 13.0 for GEO objects, a difference of 5.6 mag, while the exposure-averaged magnitudes differ by only 0.5 mag. Normalized to 550 km, the 34 Starlink streaks give g (550 km) = 5.95, consistent with the mean V (550 km) = 5.92 ± 0.04 reported for VisorSat-design spacecraft. The spectra are consistent with reflected sunlight, with modest, signal-to-noise-driven differences in slope. The catalog, spectra, and code are archived on Zenodo (doi: 10.5281/zenodo.22962479 ).
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BibTeX
@article{cooper2026satellite,
title = {{Satellite Streaks in HETDEX: Spectra, Orbital Identification, and Survey Impact}},
author = {Erin Mentuch Cooper and Karl Gebhardt and Dustin Davis and Daniel J. Farrow and Barbara G. Castanheira and Gavin Dalton and Gary J. Hill and Stephen C. Hummel and Chenxu 辰旭 Liu 刘 and Shiro Mukae and Shun Saito and Donald P. Schneider and Sarah Tuttle},
journal = {The Astronomical Journal},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.3847/1538-3881/aeb0a7},
url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/aeb0a7},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Satellite Streaks in HETDEX: Spectra, Orbital Identification, and Survey Impact
AU - Erin Mentuch Cooper
AU - Karl Gebhardt
AU - Dustin Davis
AU - Daniel J. Farrow
AU - Barbara G. Castanheira
AU - Gavin Dalton
AU - Gary J. Hill
AU - Stephen C. Hummel
AU - Chenxu 辰旭 Liu 刘
AU - Shiro Mukae
AU - Shun Saito
AU - Donald P. Schneider
AU - Sarah Tuttle
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/06
JO - The Astronomical Journal
DO - 10.3847/1538-3881/aeb0a7
UR - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/aeb0a7
AB - We present a spectroscopic database and analysis of satellite streaks in Public Data Release 1 (PDR1) from the Hobby–Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX), covering 6778 observations and ∼90 deg ² of sky from 2017 January to 2024 July. We detect 527 streaks across 492 observations, a contamination fraction of 7.3% that rises to monthly values above 20% by 2023–2024, although the streaks mask only 0.09% of the survey area. Of the 527 streaks, 475 (90.1%) are identified with a cataloged object using archival two-line elements: 258 (54%) lie in low or medium Earth orbit, and 217 (46%) are geostationary or highly elliptical. Only 35% were launched since 2010; the rest are spent rocket bodies, debris, and older spacecraft. This reflects HETDEX’s sensitivity to faint objects and its 2017–2024 observing baseline. The Hobby–Eberly Telescope’s large 10 m aperture and HETDEX’s ∼6 minute exposures result in similar observed magnitudes for low Earth orbit (LEO) and geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) objects (median g AB = 16.2 ± 1.1 for LEO, 16.7 ± 1.1 for GEO). However, once transit time is corrected for, instantaneous magnitudes differ widely: g inst = 7.4 for LEO versus g inst = 13.0 for GEO objects, a difference of 5.6 mag, while the exposure-averaged magnitudes differ by only 0.5 mag. Normalized to 550 km, the 34 Starlink streaks give g (550 km) = 5.95, consistent with the mean V (550 km) = 5.92 ± 0.04 reported for VisorSat-design spacecraft. The spectra are consistent with reflected sunlight, with modest, signal-to-noise-driven differences in slope. The catalog, spectra, and code are archived on Zenodo (doi: 10.5281/zenodo.22962479 ).
SN - 0004-6256
SN - 1538-3881
ER -