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A group of mysterious white lights has been a hot topic on social media today after last night’s sightings.
Speculations about the mysterious light show ranged from planes to UFOs and aliens.
But the train of lights in the night sky, amazing stargazers across the UK, are actually SpaceX satellites.
The satellites are part of a scheme by tech company Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, launched with the aim of improving global Internet coverage.
More than 300 satellites have been launched so far, and the network will eventually reach 12,000 in the first leg, reaching 42,000 in the future.
Once in place, the network, known as the mega constellation, will be able to broadcast Internet coverage anywhere on Earth.
Why can we see Starlink satellites?
According to space experts, the current high rate of sightings is because the satellites are in low orbit after the first launch.
SpaceX launches Starlink satellites in batches of 60 before they gradually rise to a higher orbit and become less visible.
The most recent batch was released in mid-March, with another batch slated for April 23.
The satellites have been deliberately designed to be light and compact so that they can be launched in such large batches.
However, despite interest in the project, some have expressed concern about the impact the new network could have on other activities, such as astronomy.
As a result, SpaceX has begun coating the devices with dark paint to reduce their shine.
Various websites allow people to track current satellite locations, including findstarlink.com, where users can also see when Starlink is likely to be visible to them again.
That website suggests that parts of the United Kingdom might also see an overpass of a group of satellites just before 10 p.m. tonight (April 20).
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