I was walking with my wife at 8:40 pm in Northern Virginia. We saw a string of 15 or so lights, guessing 5 to 10 degrees apart, in a single line evenly spaced. High enough that you could not hear any engine noise and you could only see a front light. When one of the lights passed us, you could no longer see it. Makes me think it was a front light of some sort. Could not see any other lights on the craft. Flying Southeast.

Just guessing, probably military given the even spacing. Seems it would be too high for helicopters. Ospreys maybe?

Any ideas? Saturn was Southeast of us and the flight was flying towards it. My wife suggested in jest that maybe they were Saturnites.

Starlink satellites?

Starlink 'satellite train'?

Twenty-two Starlink satellites were deployed by SpaceX shortly after launch on Sept. 16, 2023. See multiple views captured by cameras aboard the Falcon 9 rocket second stage.




https://starwalk.space/en/news...sky-visibility-guide

quote:

See a string of lights in the sky? What it is, and when you could see them again

"those strings of lights moving across the night sky are Starlink satellites launched by SpaceX."

https://thehill.com/homenews/n...ould-see-them-again/

Looks like Starlink it is. Doing some research we saw some news stories on this.

Elon is everywhere.

I knew SIGforum would have the answer! Thanks nhracecraft.

Space.com is a great resource on this.

THREE MINUTES!

I saw a couple of starlink satellite videos shortly after people started reporting them, so I had a pretty good idea about them. However, I hadn't caught them myself until a buddy and I were talking about an hour or two before sunrise. We were on patrol and talking driver door window to driver door window when I see him looking up over my unit. He told me he was seeing a flock of geese, but since it wasn't migration season, I instantly knew it had to be the satellite string. Yep, there they were playing follow the leader across the sky. I've seen them a couple of times on my own since then. As neato as they are, I'm hoping they remain few and far between, not eventually covering the night sky.

Starlink 6-16 (September 16, 2023)

On September 16, at 03:38 GMT (September 15, 23:38 EDT), SpaceX launched the 106th batch of 22 Starlink internet satellites. The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, USA. This mission boosted the total number of Starlink satellites launched to 5,113 units!

Check out a web site out of Europe called Heavens Above. It will give you info on visible satellites

Interesting site. Looks like they have a mobile app.

I use Sky Guide on my iPhone. It has some satellites, but didn't identify this string.

3 MINUTES is a great response time for a question out of the blue!

video of a starlink line of satellites

https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1.../1704519450110665063

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
Starlink 6-16 (September 16, 2023)

On September 16, at 03:38 GMT (September 15, 23:38 EDT), SpaceX launched the 106th batch of 22 Starlink internet satellites. The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, USA. This mission boosted the total number of Starlink satellites launched to 5,113 units!

There is so much crap orbiting now, and I know the military monitors it, but trying to find a safe place to park a satellite, or weave a spacecraft thru it must be a monumental task.

I get out of my car arriving home after work. I see my neighbor looking in the distance. He says, "Yo, check this out". He points out the location in the sky asking what is it?

My 1st thought perhaps a meteor, but it was too narrow of a light for that. Shortly, it is passing overhead and I suggest it was the starlink satellites. I had no idea that they would be so visible with naked eye.

I used findstarlink website to find out the "starlink train" arrives daily for next few days and is very visible in the Eastern PA sky about 5:50PM. Visible for 4 minutes as the move very fast. It was easier to see them approaching, quickly the reflected sunlight is no longer seen as they approach the horizon.

Starlink satellites.
or
RS-28 Sarmat MIRV...

If it's the first, your internet should be much better than you had before.

If the second- well you'll place first in your local suntan competition.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
Starlink satellites.
or
RS-28 Sarmat MIRV...

If it's the first, your internet should be much better than you had before.

If the second- well you'll place first in your local suntan competition.

I was concerned after realizing it wasn't a meteor. Then logic took over. If it were the second option, I'd probably see more then one at a time. So I calmly observed what I figured to be the starlink. Neighbor said he'd seen it once previously. So I wasn't that concerned.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
Starlink satellites.
or
RS-28 Sarmat MIRV...

If it's the first, your internet should be much better than you had before.

If the second- well you'll place first in your local suntan competition.

Starlink has been unavailable for years where both of our houses are, but now it’s available at both.