Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite fleet is set to make another appearance over UK skies this week, alongside the International Space Station.
The Starlink satellites form a constellation of thousands of satellites, and are designed to provide low-cost broadband internet service from low Earth orbit.
The satellites will be visible three times this week - on May 14, May 15 and May 16.
While your location will alter how visible Starlink is, most viewers across the UK should be able to see it.
Here’s a round-up of the best times to see the Starlink satellites this week, as well as when the International Space Station will be visible.
What time can you see the Starlink satellite display this week?
There will be three opportunities for you to see the Starlink satellites from the UK this week.
The satellites will be visible at:
10:36 pm, 14 May 2020
9:35 pm, 15 May 2020
10:11 pm, 16 May 2020
What time will the ISS be visible this week?
The International Space Station will also be visible from the UK on several occasions this week:
Thu May 14, 00:30 AM
Thu May 14, 2:03 AM
Thu May 14, 3:39 AM
Thu May 14, 11:43 PM
Fri May 15, 1:16 AM
Fri May 15, 2:51 AM
Fri May 15, 4:28 AM
Fri May 15, 10:50 PM
Sat May 16, 00:26 AM
Sat May 16, 2:03 AM
Sat May 16, 3:40 AM
Sat May 16, 10:03 PM
Sat May 16, 11:39 PM
Sun May 17, 1:15 AM
Sun May 17, 2:52 AM
Sun May 17, 4:31 AM
Sun May 17, 10:51 PM
While these aren’t exactly the most sociable times, there’s an important reason why.
Spot the Station explained: “All sightings will occur within a few hours before or after sunrise or sunset. This is the optimum viewing period as the sun reflects off the space station and contrasts against the darker sky."
How to track the Starlink satellites
If you want to track the satellites in real-time, you can visit the Find Starlink website.
The site allows you to view the satellites’ location in real-time on a map, or input your location to see exactly when the satellites will be visible from your home.
Results are filtered based on how bright the satellites will be, so make sure you're looking at those listed as ‘Bright’.
What are the Starlink satellites?
Elon Musk hopes the satellites will bring low-cost internet to remote areas on Earth.
Starlink explained: “With performance that far surpasses that of traditional satellite internet, and a global network unbounded by ground infrastructure limitations, Starlink will deliver high speed broadband internet to locations where access has been unreliable, expensive, or completely unavailable.”
However, several astronomers have raised concerns that one of the satellites could pass in front of a telescope and obscure an image.
In a recent study, published in arXiv, researchers led by Stefano Gallozzi, wrote: "Depending on their altitude and surface reflectivity, their contribution to the sky brightness is not negligible for professional ground based observations.
"With the huge amount of about 50,000 new artificial satellites for telecommunications planned to be launched in Medium and Low Earth Orbit, the mean density of artificial objects will be of >1 satellite for square sky degree; this will inevitably harm professional astronomical images."
Have you seen the Starlink satellites? Send your photos to shivali.best@reachplc.com
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