Did you see a long, thin line of lights late Saturday night and into Sunday morning? The lights were Starlink satellites, and there's even a website where you can track them.
(CHICAGO) Social media was abuzz over the weekend from a strange sighting of a line of mysterious lights that could be seen over Chicagoland.
Many took to Twitter to post images of the puzzling chain of lights seen traveling over Chicago and the suburbs.
One Twitter user shared an image of a long, thin chain of lights stretching out above the sky in the Chicago suburbs. "Was outside for a walk 15 minutes ago in Chicago suburbs, saw this slow moving train of lights in the sky. Don't know what it is," she said.
It's no wonder people were on edge when seeing mysterious lights floating in the sky. The sighting comes just after a U.S. fighter jet shot down an "unidentified object" over Lake Huron.
However, unlike the objects recently spotted floating in U.S. skies, these lights turned out to be satellites.
SpaceX launched Starlink satellites over the weekend
SpaceX successfully launched 55 satellites into orbit on Sunday, February 12th.
Soon after, the satellites drifted into space, started spreading apart, and made up the long, thin line of lights that Chicagoans could see up above.
If you missed it, there will be further chances to spot satellites in the sky.
Geza Gyuk, Director of Astronomy, Adler Planetarium told Fox32 Chicago,
"There’s about 3,000 satellites right now, they have permission for up to 7,500 roughly. And they intend to eventually have somewhere around 30,000 satellites covering the entire earth and providing internet service to essentially everywhere."
How to track Starlink satellites for yourself
You can track Starlink satellites from the website, findastarlink.
According to the website, there may be a chance to see the satellites again above Chicago on Thursday, February 16, and Friday, February 17.
However, viewing the satellites cannot be guaranteed. According to the website's owner,
"Please note, these timings are not 100% accurate, since the orbit of the satellites change often, and without warning. Even if the satellites pass over you, many things need to go right for them to reflect enough sunlight to be seen. I apologize if there are failed attempts."
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