Until recently, the idea that a terrestrial observation satellite accidentally captured another satellite in the flight was as an unlikely coincidence as finding a needle in a haystack. Space is an immense emptiness and satellites move very quickly. But in the last year we have witnessed this phenomenon twice. And on both occasions, the protagonist has been a Spacex Starlink satellite.
In a secret military base in China. On August 21, one of the new WorldView Legion satellites in Maxar passed over the Gobi desert, in China, with the aim of photographing the Dingxin Air Base: a high secret installation where China proves its most advanced fighters. The satellite achieved the image, but an unexpected intruder appears in it.
A silver ship with two large solar panels and three spectra of colors cross Maxar’s photo, creating what an executive of the company described in LinkedIn as “accidental art.” What we see is actually a single satellite, the Starlink 33828, immortalized in different wavelengths on one of the most sensitive places of the Chinese army.
The trick is in the camera. The curious multicolored image is explained by how observation satellites and the incredible speed at orbit move. These satellites do not take a single image, but a series of images in different spectral bands almost simultaneously: a high resolution (panchromatic) and several in different colors (red, green, blue …) of lower quality. Then, an algorithm merges all this information to create the final photo, already clearly color.
The problem of that “almost simultaneously” is almost. When the objective is the earth, which is relatively still with respect to the satellite, the system works perfectly. But when another satellite crosses in the field of vision at a relative speed of almost 1,400 meters per second (about 5,000 km/h), the camera captures it in a slightly different position in each of the color layers. The result is that spectral effect with several colored shadows.
El Starlink de Google Maps. This is the second time that a Starlink satellite accidentally sneaks into an alien photo. As we count in April 2025, a Reddit user discovered a very similar effect in a Google Maps image on a rural Texas area.
On that occasion, the photo was taken by a Pleaiades European satellite, and the result was even clearer: five silhouettes of the same object, corresponding to the close, red, blue, green and pancromatic infrared bands. The enormous amount of satellites in low orbit is turning an astronomically unlikely event into a new normality.
Why are Starlink satellites. Because they are a majority. Spacex already has more than 8,300 Starlink in orbit, more than all other satellite constellations together. With its plans to expand the network to more than 30,000, the probability that one of them is crossed in the viewfinder of another satellite is growing.
But also, they fly low. To offer a low latency internet connection, the Starlink operate about 500 km altitude in the low terrestrial orbit. This is the same orbital “highway” that most use the earth’s observation satellites, such as the Worldview Legion of Maxar (which are 518 km). His paths are destined to cross.
Beyond the visual anecdote, these images are the symptom that the low orbit is increasingly congested, which forces constant evasion maneuvers to prevent collisions.
Imagen | Maxar
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