Residents report seeing string of lights in sky above west suburbs, Indiana

ByABC 7 Chicago Digital Team WLS logo
Monday, April 27, 2020
SpaceX Starlink satellites: Residents report seeing string of lights in sky above Will County, Indiana
Did you see a string of lights in the sky? You're not alone, and here's what it might be.

Did you see a string of lights in the sky? You're not alone, and here's what it might be.

Residents in Will County and Indiana reported sightings of a trail of lights in the sky Sunday night.

The National Weather Service in Indianapolis said the reports seen at about 10:10 p.m. ET are most likely SpaceX Starlink satellites.

NWS said the satellites "often travel in a group as a straight line."

The Joliet Weather Center told residents who spotted the lights not to panic.

"It was just the SpaceX Starlink Internet satellites passing over," the center said on Twitter Sunday.

Elon Musk's space venture launched another batch of its Internet-beaming satellites into Earth's orbit Wednesday, continuing the company's push to create a multibillion-dollar telecom business, CNN reported.

The 60 Starlink broadband satellites rode atop one of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets, taking off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center Wednesday at 3:30 pm ET. The devices are now coasting through orbit, where they will soon begin climbing to about 340 miles above ground, their operational altitude. This launch brings the total number of Starlink satellites in orbit to more than 400.

SpaceX has said the satellites will allow it to beam Internet directly to terminals that consumers will set up at their homes or offices. Service is expected to roll out in the United States and Canada this year, CEO Elon Musk has said. The company plans to eventually grow its constellation to more than 40,000 satellites, blanketing the entire planet in cheap, high-speed Internet connectivity.

If you're interested in spotting the satellites yourself, ABC7 Meteorologist Phil Schwarz said you should be able to on clear nights into the end of May.

"They should be fairly visible to the naked eye as long as we have clear skies," Schwarz said.

CNN contributed to this report.

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