The lights seen over western Washington this Tuesday night were Starlink satellites from a Space X launch.
No UFOs over Seattle yet… If you were one of the Seattleites that witnessed an unusual line of lights on the sky yesterday, it appears you were looking at a launch from Space X.
It was after 9 pm that locals shared photos and videos of the strange lights on social media. Many attributed the lights to aliens or even Santa Claus.
Some weird UFO-esque thing in the sky tonight over Lynnwood, Washington. I really thought it was santa lol this is scaring me. #Seattle #Washington #WAstate #WA pic.twitter.com/McLEe1BPvW
— gunner (@xanzizan) May 5, 2021
However, the National Weather Service tweeted that the lights were caused by a launch made from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. According to the Space X launch website, Falcon 9 rocket launched 60 internet satellites into orbit earlier on Tuesday.
“Looks like this is associated with today’s Space X Starlink satellite launch from Kennedy Space Center In Florida,” they replied.
Looks like this is associated with today's @SpaceX Starlink satellite launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. More information here: https://t.co/oCgTYmVApO https://t.co/xpATMZpeXs
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) May 5, 2021
“Deployment of 60 Starlink satellites confirmed, completing SpaceX’s 10th Starlink mission this year”, Space X’s official Twitter wrote yesterday at 3:06 pm.
Deployment of 60 Starlink satellites confirmed, completing SpaceX’s 10th Starlink mission this year pic.twitter.com/hbL8UV15hk
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 4, 2021
The purpose of these satellites, owned by Elon Musk, is to create a network designed to deliver high-speed internet to consumers globally. Space X’s service is now available in some parts of North America and it plans to offer it anywhere in the world by 2022. You can join the waitlist on the Starlinks website.
Featured image by Paul Turner.