Maunakea is the land of the kānaka maoli people. The mountain has cultural, natural, and ecological significance to the Native Hawaiian people. The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), Asahi Astro LIVE and Subaru Telescope operate a 24/7 live stream of the western view of the sky from the summit of Maunakea, Hawai'i. East views and west views are available. Drag the red player bar to adjust the time viewed.

I visited the west view camera and adjusted it to about 8 PM local time as noted on the time stamp at the lower left of the window. That would be 20:00:00 UT. I placed my iPad facing the computer screen and opened the NightCap app. I set it to image in Light Trails mode for about a minute.

The stars showed some slight trails during the minute as expected. Much more obvious was the large number of artificial satellite trails. They are not airplane trails. Airplanes would leave dotted lines due to their blinking lights. The orange line is from a laser used by the observatory to make an artificial star in the upper atmosphere. That helps the astronomers make corrections to their scopes for improved image quality.

Curious, I made a second one minute image right after this first one. Same result.

A Google query as to the number of telecommunication satellites in orbit gave this reply.

As of late 2025/early 2026, there are over 10,000 active satellites in orbit, with SpaceX's Starlink constellation making up the majority (around 7,800 - 9,000), representing over half the total, while other major operators include OneWeb, China, and various government/military entities, with plans for tens of thousands more satellites from various mega-constellations in development.

Astronomy and clear skies are not what they used to be.