With reports of multiple balloons being shot down – most recently over Lake Huron, some were suspicious when seeing a string of lights in the skies over Sheboygan at about 6:35 last night, but they weren’t what many people might have suspected.
Investigation shows that they were the latest string of Starlink satellites, a project of SpaceX, the company founded by Elon Musk. The Starlink constellation consists of almost 3600 small satellites in low-earth orbit that provide internet access coverage to 48 countries. Notably, a series was launched last year to provide coverage for embattled Ukraine.
The satellites, which appeared as a string of lights in the sky, were launched aboard a Falcon-9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida shortly after midnight on Sunday. That single launch contained 55 of the satellites, which will once again be visible tonight over the area. To find them, look to the west at about 6:50 p.m. The tiny points of light will rise together for the next 3 minutes or so, disappearing high in the south by 6:54 p.m. as they enter the shadow of earth.
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