Look up at the night sky from a city — where most people live — and you’ll see just a smattering of stars. Perhaps even an airplane or two.

But drive further out, past the glare of lights from houses, cars, office buildings and street lamps, and the stars reveal themselves in a way that few have truly seen.

Now, it seems the night sky is under attack not only from below, but from above, thanks to the rapid proliferation of satellites, mainly megaconstellations, which can contain hundreds or thousands of satellites. And leading the charge is SpaceX.

The company launched its first batch of 60 Starlink satellites in 2019. Soon, they were showing up in data from professional astronomical institutions.