Second-timescale Glints from Satellites and Space Debris Detected with Tomo-e Gozen

Abstract A search for second-timescale optical transients is one of the frontiers of time-domain astronomy. However, it has been pointed out that reflections of sunlight from Earth-orbiting objects can also produce second-timescale “glints.” We conducted wide-field observations at 2 frames per second using Tomo-e Gozen on the 1.05 m Kiso Schmidt telescope. We identified 1554 point-source glints that appeared in only one frame (0.5 s). Their brightness ranges from 11 to 16 mag, with fainter glints being more numerous. These glints are likely caused by satellites and space debris in high-altitude orbits such as the geosynchronous Earth orbit or highly elliptical orbits. Many glints brighter than 14 mag are associated with known satellites or debris with large apogees (>30,000 km). In contrast, most fainter glints are not associated with cataloged objects and may be due to debris with sizes of 0.3–1 m. The event rate of second-timescale glints is estimated to be 4.7 ± 0.2 deg −2 hr −1 (average) and 9.0 ± 0.3 deg −2 hr −1 (near the equator) at 15.5 mag. Our results demonstrate that high-altitude debris can represent a significant foreground in searches for second-timescale optical transients. They also imply that deep surveys such as Rubin/LSST will detect many of these glints in single-exposure images.

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Publication Details

Journal
The Astrophysical Journal
Published
2025-11-25
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae0f99
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Space Satellite Systems and Control
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
4.99
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Second-timescale Glints from Satellites and Space Debris Detected with Tomo-e Gozen

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Second-timescale Glints from Satellites and Space Debris Detected with Tomo-e Gozen

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article en
1 citations

Abstract

Abstract A search for second-timescale optical transients is one of the frontiers of time-domain astronomy. However, it has been pointed out that reflections of sunlight from Earth-orbiting objects can also produce second-timescale “glints.” We conducted wide-field observations at 2 frames per second using Tomo-e Gozen on the 1.05 m Kiso Schmidt telescope. We identified 1554 point-source glints that appeared in only one frame (0.5 s). Their brightness ranges from 11 to 16 mag, with fainter glints being more numerous. These glints are likely caused by satellites and space debris in high-altitude orbits such as the geosynchronous Earth orbit or highly elliptical orbits. Many glints brighter than 14 mag are associated with known satellites or debris with large apogees (>30,000 km). In contrast, most fainter glints are not associated with cataloged objects and may be due to debris with sizes of 0.3–1 m. The event rate of second-timescale glints is estimated to be 4.7 ± 0.2 deg −2 hr −1 (average) and 9.0 ± 0.3 deg −2 hr −1 (near the equator) at 15.5 mag. Our results demonstrate that high-altitude debris can represent a significant foreground in searches for second-timescale optical transients. They also imply that deep surveys such as Rubin/LSST will detect many of these glints in single-exposure images.

The Astrophysical JournalVol. 994(2)
Nihon University (JP), Deloitte (United States) (US), Konan University (JP), Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (JP), National Institutes of Natural Sciences (JP), The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI (JP), Tohoku University (JP), Institute for Advanced Study (US), RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project (JP), National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (JP), Kyoto Seika University (JP), The University of Tokyo (JP), Chiba Institute of Technology (JP)
Openalex Percentile: Top 4%
Space Satellite Systems and Control
4.99
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