Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's 58 satellites of course!
Elon Musk's company SpaceX launched almost 60 satellites into the night sky yesterday which will soar over Scotland for the next three evenings.
The Starlink satellites are designed to deliver high speed broadband internet to remote areas around the world.
SpaceX are releasing pace crafts every two weeks or so, which are a string of small, fast-moving bright lights that can be spotted in the sky without binoculars or a telescope (and a good excuse to get up Arthur's Seat!).
So far, SpaceX has launched 597 Starlink satellites, and this afternoon a further 58 satellites were shot from a Falcon 9 rocket yesterday Tuesday 18 August.
Eagle-eyed Scots will have several opportunities to see the satellites in the night sky this week.
The satellites are expected to be visible at:
Wednesday, August 19
10:46 pm, for five minutes
Thursday, August 20
4:38 am, for four minutes
9:47 pm, for four minutes
11:21 pm, for five minutes
Friday, 21 August 2020
10:22 pm, for five minutes
11:57 pm for six minutes
4:15 am, for three minutes
Kennedy Space Centre explained: “SpaceX is scheduled to launch the 11th mission of the constellation of networked satellites known as Starlink.
“The goal of Starlink is to create a network that will help provide internet services to those who are not yet connected, and to provide reliable and affordable internet across the globe.
“Riding along with Starlink satellites payload on this mission are three SkySat Earth-imaging satellites for Planet.”
If you want to watch the launch, you’ll be happy to hear that SpaceX will be live-streaming it on its YouTube channel here.
Eager stargazers can find out more information about the satellites on Find Starlink.
