Seen a line of weird lights in the sky over Central PA? Here's what they are.

If you've been watching the night skies in Central Pa. recently and caught a glimpse of some strange lines of lights following each other, no one could blame you if you thought you'd seen a UFO.

Those weird lights aren't space invaders, though. They're actually a train of SpaceX's Starlink satellites in low earth orbit.

The satellites are part of SpaceX's initiative to have 42,000 satellites in a "mega-constellation" to provide internet coverage across the globe. Currently, according to a website tracking the Starlink launches, there are 5,445 Starlink satellites in orbit as of Nov. 18, 2023.

According to the Starlink website, the satellites orbit the planet around 342 miles up in the sky. Normally, at their operational altitude, the constellation doesn't stand out prominently in the sky, but when the satellites are first launched, they orbit at lower altitudes for several days.

When the satellites are seen at these lower altitudes, they reflect the sun off of their panels, causing them to be prominently visible in the night sky. The satellites do not have any lights of their own, according to Starlink.

With a goal for tens of thousands more to be launched, it's likely that these low-altitude sightings will be frequent.

The Evening Sun captured the above photograph of a Starlink satellite train in the night skies over the Remembrance Day Illumination at Gettysburg National Cemetery on Saturday evening.

If you're interested in catching a glimpse of the satellite trains, a website, "Find Starlink," provides users with the next passes of the satellites over their location.

While the sightings have become an intriguing part of the night sky, it doesn't come without several concerns.

Astronomers have been raising red flags over the massive constellation, with the satellites frequently scarring images captured at astronomical observation sites, including images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Others have called out the constellation as being the "number one source of collision hazard in Earth's orbit," or that the satellites frequently burning up in the atmosphere could impact the climate.

This article originally appeared on Hanover Evening Sun: What is that weird line of lights in the Central PA sky?