There was a strange row of lights in the sky before dawn on Friday
The eerie light juxtaposition in the east coast night sky on Friday morning was actually the 46 satellites that launched into space on Monday.
They belong to Elon Musk’s SpaceX company and, if you want to catch them before they’re out of sight, you’ve got to be quick. Here’s how to recognize it.
Watch the video above to see the SpaceX satellite formation launch that scares stargazers
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The juxtaposition of traveling satellites moves through space like strings of pearls, creating quite an interesting spectacle for stargazers.
While they may appear to be stars, or even UFOs, they are actually Musk’s company-owned Starlink satellite convoy that launched Monday in California.
If you want a glimpse, Australian National University astrophysicist and cosmologist Dr Brad Tucker told 7NEWS.com.au Aussies on the east coast only have until Friday morning to see this particular alignment.
It’s been a big week for space fanatics, with a super moon shining across the sky Wednesday, and newly released space images by NASA showing groundbreaking telescopic technology.
Monday’s SpaceX launch sent 46 satellites in a single rocket. Once the rocket is in the sky, the satellites “all come out and, over time they slowly change their orbits,” Tucker told 7NEWS.com.au.
“We saw it early on, shortly after launch when they were all really close together, so they looked like ants marching across the sky.”
How to find harmony
Set your alarm early and keep an eye on the skies between 5:50 AM and 6 AM on Fridays.
“Broadly on the east coast of Australia they will be seen in the early hours of the morning. That would be their peak visibility,” said Tucker.
This formation will be visible from Queensland to Tasmania, high in the sky.
Find a dark location or head out of town for the best chance of parallel satellite viewing.
“They’re coming from the south, heading roughly northwest,” said Tucker.
“Even though they look like moving stars, they are actually relatively small – only (six or seven) meters wide in actual size.
“Actually what we see is sunlight that is reflected, and it bounces back to earth.”
“You may not see all 46 satellites because some may not be bright enough or you may miss one, but you will see dozens passing above.”
The formation of satellites is commonly mistaken for UFOs.
“We get so many calls from people saying, ‘I just saw something really weird, what is this, it looks like an alien!’, and you can imagine why – when you look at these streaks in the sky, it looks like an alien invasion. ,” said Tucker.
Friday morning is the last time you will be able to catch the launch of this particular satellite which has been in sight for several days.
Once they reach their final spot, they will become so faint to the human eye that we won’t be able to see them, which Tucker says is “the real goal”.
“You can imagine that if we kept looking at all these satellites, we would actually start to lose stars.”
There’s a fine balance in terms of how many satellites are sent into space, says Tucker – send too many and we’ll “completely block the sky”.
Future formation
Tucker said SpaceX launches “almost every few weeks now”, but added “you might not be able to see it”.
If you’re based in Australia, it all depends on the launch time and orbit.
“The rule of thumb is if you see 10-50 lights very evenly spaced, it’s going to be a SpaceX satellite,” Tucker said.
The SpaceX project aims to provide “complete coverage” and “solve high-speed internet and internet problems in remote locations”.
Amazon, China, and India are also building their own versions of the SpaceX project, so similar formations could be seen in the night sky in the future.
Currently “there are no rules for deciding how many satellites is the perfect number”, which Tucker says is “actually a bit of a problem”.
“We have a lot of uncontrolled waste there and this is one of the concerns – it pollutes the space too much, and creates accidents, because obviously when they hit they create more trash.
“There is a very delicate balance and discussion of how to manage our dependence on satellites but also not dramatically change our space and our skies.”
The SpaceX satellite creates a spooky formation.
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