If you were among the thousands who looked up at the sky and saw something strange, you are not alone! The moving brights lights that you probably saw are not bright stars but rather, Elon Musk’s latest advancement into space with the ‘Starlink’ satellites. By Amitha Ameen
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A lot of people around the world took to social media to report about a train white lights that they saw in the sky. While theories started circulating from that of extraterrestrials to UFO, sorry to burst your bubbles. It is not.
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The US-based Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), run by Elon Musk launched 60 satellites into space. The satellites are part of a project called ‘Starlink’, where the aim is to launch thousands of satellites into the orbit to improve global internet coverage.
While the first launch happened in May 2019, SpaceX has so far launched 420 of these satellites. The company hopes to cover the space around Earth and operate about 12,000 satellites that could potentially go up to 42,000.
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The company stated that they hope to provide the whole world including even the remotest of places with cheap, high-speed internet connectivity.
As for why these satellites are clearly visible from space, it could be because of their size and close proximity to the Earth. Normally, large satellites are sent into a higher orbit and smaller satellites like the ‘Starlink’ stay in low orbit.
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Musk himself responded to a question posed by a Twitter user about the brightness of the satellites saying that it was due to the angle of the solar panels on the satellite, that reflect light, and that the company was “fixing it now.”
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