New Zealand astrophotographer Brendan Larsen's satellite-trail composite draws AI doubts
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The gist
New Zealand astrophotographer Brendan Larsen layered 578 photos into a composite showing about 14,450 satellite trails.
The viral image drew AI accusations, spotlighting how crowded the night sky is becoming.
Background
Brendan Larsen is a 51-year-old New Zealand astrophotographer who pointed his camera at the night sky over Mt Taranaki, a mountain in New Zealand. He set the camera to take unlimited eight-second exposures with a two-second gap, gathering 578 photographs in nearly two hours, then spent about 45 hours in Adobe Photoshop layering them and erasing stars to reveal the satellite trails. The resulting composite, showing an estimated 14,450 trail appearances from roughly 1,400 individual satellites, spread widely online and prompted some commenters to claim it was AI-generated.
How it unfolded
- recentlyLarsen left his camera shooting the night sky over Mt Taranaki for nearly two hours, capturing 578 eight-second photographs.
- recentlyHe spent about 45 hours in Adobe Photoshop layering the photos and manually masking in every satellite trail.
- Nov 4, 2026The Guardian reported on the viral night-sky image and that its creator had been accused of using AI.
- Nov 5, 2026kottke.org published the image as "Stunning Image of Our Satellite-Choked Night Skies," describing the composite and stating it is not AI.
Key terms
- astrophotographer
- A person who photographs astronomical objects, celestial events, or areas of the night sky.
- composite
- An image made by combining visual elements from separate sources into a single picture.
- exposures
- The amount of light per unit area reaching film or an image sensor, set by time, aperture, and scene brightness.
Source: Wikipedia
Who’s saying what
- Expert
- Fellow photographer Vincent Laforet called the image "an important photograph," saying he moved from startled to confused to fascinated, then felt betrayal on realizing he was tracking small satellites that likely ruined his long exposure.
- Public
- Some online commenters believed the image was AI-generated, a claim kottke.org said is not the case.
Still unverified
Online commenters claimed the image was AI-generated; kottke.org states it is not AI.