Starlink space satellites light up the night sky in Western Europe

There’s some cool stuff happening in the skies tonight, and throughout the week, for those who look up.

The Starlink satellites from SpaceX will cross the skies of Western Europe over a period of four hours a night in “trains” of more than two dozen satellites. There are approximately 362 of those in the skies currently, according to an April report from Forbes magazine.

The plan for Starlink is to have thousands – like 42,000, in the skies at some point. Many are voicing concern though as the first few “trains” of these satellites were brighter than the planet Venus.

Individuals who saw the light show on April 18 shared images and videos of the satellites crossing one another in the skies on Twitter. The lines of satellites over Kosovo looked like a unique string of party lights, and Twitter user Dr. Marco Langbroek (@Marco_Langborek), showed two stacked images from the April 19 Starlink parade. His tweet read:

“Two stacked images from this evening's #Starlink parade. One a 115 image stack between 20:26:40-20:38:45 UT, stars from Leo. The other a 68 image stack between 20:39:10-20:45:30 UT, stars Cancri. Canon EOS 80D + EF 2.0/35 mm, 5 seconds exposures, 1000 ISO. Leiden town center.”

The Starlink satellite program has been controversial from the start, partly because of worry that the fleet of satellites meant to create a global broadband system, will create such congestion in the skies that it will be harder for astronomers and others to easily view the skies.

Forbes writer Jamie Carter notes:

“Ironically, Starlink is getting people to look up at the night sky while many are concerned that the very same phenomenon is a threat to it.”

To see Starlink’s satellite train, visit the website, called Find Starlink (https://findstarlink.com/) where you can put your location in, and you’ll get access to a live map and suggestions on when you’ll be able to see the satellite train.