String Of Starlink Satellites Spotted Across Southern California Overnight
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — It wasn't the aliens – that string of lights that were visible over Southern California were a string of SpaceX's Starlink satellites.
The unsettling sight was spotted at about 10 p.m. Wednesday night and were visible to eagle-eyed sky watchers throughout Southern California. The lights were the 60 Starlink satellites that were launched into space on Tuesday.
Deployment of 60 Starlink satellites confirmed, completing SpaceX's 10th Starlink mission this year pic.twitter.com/hbL8UV15hk
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 4, 2021
Reports of the lights came in up and down the West Coast, and were particularly visible in desert areas like Palm Springs and Las Vegas.
Just saw a train of bright lights moving above my yard in LA. Military operations or Starlink' Satellites, @elonmusk ? pic.twitter.com/ASUaGr9UMd
— António Ferraz (@AntonioBAFerraz) May 6, 2021
What was in our sky in Las Vegas tonight???? Weird? My wife said #aliens? Crazy.... pic.twitter.com/gHL2Eo7S9J
— Rick Detisch III (@RickDetischIII) May 6, 2021
The satellites were also visible over west Simi Valley and Moorpark, where Dennis Willett of the Ventura County Astronomical Society said he felt mixed emotions at the sight of an "internet satellite constellation."
"Happy that so many less fortunate folks around the globe may soon have access to fast internet. Frightened that these bright light polluters could obscure the discovery of earth impacting asteroids," he wrote in a Facebook post.
The satellites are part of SpaceX's efforts to deliver high-speed internet across the globe.