Line of lights moving in a straight line, with a few following

Question

My husband and I have just seen a line of about 15 lights moving in a straight line, quite high above the cloud level with a gap, and then 5 lights, a gap, another few, a gap, 1 light, a gap, and a few more.

They were moving at the same sort of speed as I would expect a plane to move at - almost like a train in the sky with a banner flying behind. They were in the sky for at least a minute.

I had seen a shooting star a few minutes before and it wasn’t one of them... what could it be?

Could it be Elon Musk’s satellites?

Note to contributors. Please don't post "I saw this too!" comments as answers. If you can identify this, or provide information on how it can be identified, then please contribute an answer. — James K, May 25 '19 at 06:03
Gizmodo: Breathtaking View of SpaceX Starlink Satellite ‘Train’ Triggers Wave of UFO Sightings — uhoh, May 28 '19 at 03:12

score 25 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 10 '19 at 10:20

25

Given the date and timing, this could be most like the Starlink satellites in their "stacked" configuration. They are currently in a line, but they will later move to separate orbits. Dr Marco Langbroek has a video of a line of 60 satellites.

They won't stay in a line; they have ion engines that they will use to spread out into separate orbits.

edited Jun 10 '19 at 10:20

Peter Mortensen

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answered May 25 '19 at 06:03

James K

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Wow. The manner in which they're moving across the sky is crazy. Direct link to the above video, for anyone wanting a quick look: https://vimeo.com/338361997 – White Prime May 25 '19 at 07:06
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Normally air forces do that. Saw in with elicopters. Better I stop or I go political ;-) – Alchimista May 25 '19 at 09:04
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More details and the video are also available on Marco Langbroek's SatTrack Leiden blog entry – astrosnapper May 25 '19 at 17:00
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My computer doesn't like Vimeo. Here it is on YouTube. - Are they so bright because they're already using the ion engines? – Mazura May 25 '19 at 20:32
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Is there any information on how long they are going to stay “stacked”? The satellites supposedly passed over my location an hour ago, but I couldn't see anything due to overcast weather. – Norrius May 25 '19 at 23:33
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I'd just like to say, I got the privilege of arriving at this movie through this link, so I knew what I was looking at. Still can't believe it. – Cort Ammon May 27 '19 at 22:53

Line of lights moving in a straight line, with a few following

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