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A TRAIL of lights in the night sky left Australians baffled following Elon Musk’s latest SpaceX mission.
The billionaire sparked UFO rumors on Saturday after he launched dozens of broadband satellites into low-Earth orbit.
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A total of 53 Starlink satellites were launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at around 4:40.
The fleet traveled towards the southeast in a low-Earth orbit that could be seen clearly from residents in Sydney, Australia.
However, it wasn’t just the lights that made headlines, but the new way the fleet was launched, according to Australian National University astrophysicist Brad Tucker.
“Each dot is an individual satellite launched meters apart, before slowly spreading out by hundreds of meters,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“They always look weird… because they fly in these lines or constellation.”
“We’re talking about a fairly close formation in a very tight orbit, and this is because they want this global [broadband] coverage.”
Sydneysiders were lucky to see the satellites as the fleet was only visible from Earth for about two hours after sunset.
“You’re only going to see a satellite up to about two hours after sunset or before sunrise,” Dr. Tucker said.
“And that is because the angle of the sun can still reflect off the satellites and then back down to Earth.”
Starlink’s takeover
Starlink is a satellite project that was launched by the Tesla CEO in 2015.
Musk has said he wants to put 12,000 satellites into orbit over the next decade, and possibly 42,000 in the future.
That mega-constellation will eventually be able to beam internet coverage to anywhere on the planet, according to SpaceX.
At present, the number of Starlink satellites orbiting Earth at altitudes of about 550 km has already approached 2,500.
However, this had led to many astronomers expressing concern that the SpaceX instruments could hinder their scientific observations, specifically those aimed at detecting near-Earth asteroids.
Starlink satellites have appeared as streaks in scientific telescope images so frequently that it prompted a study on them.
Currently, the mega-constellation of Starlink satellites brings internet service to 24 of almost 200 countries around the world.
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