Scientists say we can't see the stars from space debris.

The night sky is becoming increasingly filled with shiny satellites and space junk that pose a significant threat to our view of the cosmos, as well as astronomical research, a new study warns.

The researchers found that the more than 9,300 tons (8,440 metric tons) of space objects orbiting Earth, including inoperative satellites and chunks of spent rocket stages, increase the overall brightness of the night sky by more than 10% over large parts of the planet.

Such an increase would mean large swathes of the planet are considered light-polluted, making it increasingly difficult for astronomers to take accurate measurements, and increasing the likelihood that they will miss significant discoveries altogether, the researchers said in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

"We expected the sky brightness increase would be marginal if any, but our first theoretical estimates have proved extremely surprising and thus encouraged us to report our results promptly," lead study author Miroslav Kocifaj, a senior researcher at the Slovak Academy of Sciences, said in a statement.

The researchers calculated the change in luminosity by developing a model that considers the average size and luminosity of each piece of debris.

According to the researchers, satellites, and space garbage ruin, astronomical images by scattering reflected sunlight, producing bright streaks that are indistinguishable from — and often brighter than — objects of astrophysical interest, making it difficult if not impossible for them to get a clear picture.

The researchers found that this effect is most pronounced when viewing the cosmos with low-resolution detectors, such as the human eye, resulting in a diffuse brightness across all of the night sky. High-resolution angular and high-sensitivity telescopes can also see some of their images destroyed by light pollution, though they can probably solve the light reflected by unwanted smear objects. However, this could potentially obscure astronomical sites, such as the glowing clouds of stars along with the Milky Way disk, all over the world, star observers find themselves.

"Unlike ground-based light pollution, this kind of artificial light in the night sky can be seen across a large part of the Earth's surface," study co-author John Barentine, director of public policy for the International Dark-Sky Association, said in the statement. "Astronomers build observatories away from city lights to search for the dark sky, but this form of light pollution has a much wider geographic scope."

And the night sky could become even more mesmerizing and brighter, especially with the continued installation of “mega-constellations,” large commercial satellite networks aimed at providing global Internet access. At least 12 operators, including Amazon, SpaceX, and OneWeb, are planning to launch new or expand existing mega constellation satellites. SpaceX's Starlink currently has 1,200 satellites in orbit, but the company intends to increase its fleet to 42,000 in the coming decades — roughly 14 times the number of operational satellites in orbit today.

The increasingly crowded sky also increases the probability that satellites will collide with one another and other objects, creating brighter debris.

A solution to this problem, offered by the European Space Agency (ESA) in December 2019, is the launch in 2025 of a four-armed robot to retrieve space objects. ESA expects to use the mission as a test for a larger operation by a fleet of cleaning robots. Meanwhile, ESA Director-General Johann-Dietrich Wörner has called for new rules to make companies and agencies that launch satellites accountable for storing their waste.

A team of Australian scientists even offered to blast waste from space with a laser, reports Live Science.

The researchers hope that their article will make people aware of the harmful effects of a night sky full of litter.

'Our results mean that many more people than mere astronomers are at risk of losing access to an immaculate night sky,' said Barentine. "This article could really change what this conversation is about."

Original publication on Live Science.