SpaceX's Starlink Satellites Put on a Celestial Show Over the Netherlands
While it wasn't a UFO, the dazzling spectacle that played out over the skies in Leiden, Netherlands, sure looked like one. But the procession of dazzling lights in the sky was actually a orbital procession of 60 SpaceX Starlink satellites, launched on May 23.
Captured by Marco Langbroek, an astronomer and spy satellite tracker, Langbroek was able to record the stunning display by calculating the orbit of the launch of the Falcon 9. His calculations-while not exact-were pretty on the money.
"My search orbit turned out to be not too bad: very close in sky track, and with the objects passing some 3 minutes early on the predictions. And what a SPECTACULAR view it was!" Langbroek said on his blog.
SpaceX's Starlink satellites aim to provide internet service on a global scale, especially in underserved areas, a similar plan pitched by other tech companies like Facebook and Google. SpaceX is planning between three and seven Starlink launches this year with each rocket carrying 60 satellites in the hopes of getting approximately a thousand into orbit to begin providing low-cost internet access.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk hopes to have 12,000 Starlink satellites in space by the mid 2020's. This ambitious goal has raised concerns from some astronomers who worry about the affect the satellites will have on visibility. As Langbroek's footage shows, the satellites are bright and seem quite easy to spot with the naked eye. Such a proliferation of Starlink satellites in orbit could disrupt the natural beauty of the night sky.
But for now, Musk is 11,940 satellites short of that goal.
Source: Phys.org
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