The other night as I was walking home, I took a look up and saw a strange string of lights traveling across the sky. This was certainly no plane, and I doubted it was a procession of drones, as the lights were moving in a straight line at a consistent speed. But what was it?
Given recent extraterrestrial events, one’s mind might immediately go to aliens. But it’s probably not aliens, right? There must be a rational explanation for this, I thought, even as I marveled at the way the lights slid swiftly across the sky without moving a degree out of line. It was a little creepy, to be honest, even though I was pretty sure it wasn’t aliens.
I would wager my experience matches those of many of us who have noticed similar strings of lights booking it across the night sky. Unlike “alien” sightings, these lights have been seen by a lot of people—but luckily, there really is a rational and readily available explanation for them.
The string of lights in the sky is Elon Musk’s Starlink
So no, it’s not aliens. It’s the internet! Those lights you see in the sky, moving in such a uniform way, are doing so as designed by the human-based team over at SpaceX. Specifically, they’re created by satellites, part of a fleet of over 4,500 and counting. (That’s a lot of satellites, which is why it’s not rare to see them in the sky every now and then.)
Starlink offers its customers satellite internet at close to broadband speeds, with download speeds ranging from 25 to 220 Mbps, and upload speeds from five to 20 Mbps. Its Premium service offers up to 500 Mbps. This is made possible due to the satellites’ small size, which means they can orbit the Earth at a much closer distance than traditional satellites, hovering about 300 miles above our heads.
You can tap into Starlink’s internet, for a price
Starlink isn’t a corporate or government-only internet service. The company offers its satellite internet to customers in compatible locations, and continues to expand its services.
If you are in a serviceable area, Starlink will cost you $110 a month. Depending on what you pay for internet service, this might be a bit pricey, or it may be a discount. That said, you will need to pay an initial $599 fee for Starlink’s proprietary satellite dish and wifi router. And if you want to upgrade to Starlink Premium, that’s $500 a month, with an initial fee of $2,500.
You might not be convinced to go with Starlink if you’re in an area with excellent internet coverage. If you have fiber internet, you have potential speeds that crush even Starlink Premium. Where Starlink really shines, however, is in areas with mid to poor internet service. It doesn’t matter if you have a single terrible ISP in your area, charging you crazy amounts for awful internet: As long as you have access to a clear sky, you can take advantage of fast satellite internet through Starlink.
How to track Starlink satellites
If you want to know the next time this string of lights will be visible in your neck of the woods, your best bet is to consult a Starlink tracker. Find Starlink is one such site; with it, you can punch in your city and country and see if Starlink’s satellites will be traveling overhead any time soon. Unfortunately, it’s possible my sighting will be my last for a while, as there appears to be no predicted crossover in my area for the next five days.
If you’d rather see where Starlink is going to be generally, you can also check out Find Starlink’s live map.