**UNSTOPPABLE WORLD: Astronomers enraged by huge man-made star that has 'vandalised' the sky**

Recently, New Zealand company Rocket Lab
sent a huge disco ball into space that now acts as its own star. The company said that the light was “born of the desire to encourage people to consider their place in the universe and reflect on what’s important in their own lives and the lives of humanity as a species”, but numerous people have called it a PR stunt.

Now astronomers and other scientists have voiced their disgust with the plan, arguing that it will block out real stars and could contribute to making satellites far harder to launch. The huge space disco ball has been described as vandalism, graffiti and is “corrupting our idea of the cosmos”.

The bright sphere is going to be flying around the Earth for nearly a year. The light it gives off is supposed to be part of its selling point, but astronomers complain that the brightness will get in the way of real stars and make doing actual science far more difficult. Others pointed out there was little need for an artificial star to provoke our wonder about the night sky – since there’s already plenty of objects up there to do that anyway.