Starlink satellites as viewed over the Remutaka Hills near Wellington in 2020.
Photo / Ricky Situ
Starlink satellites as viewed over the Remutaka Hills near Wellington in 2020.
Photo / Ricky Situ
A stargazer could not believe his eyes this morning when he thought UFOs were about to land in Tauranga.
Donald who only wanted to be known by his first name was going about his business before starting work.
“At about 4.55am this morning I went outside to have a cigarette with my cup of tea. I looked at the sky and saw some objects flying in a straight line at an even distance apart. I started to count them and in almost disbelief, there were at least 60.
“They are packed together like pancakes inside a SpaceX rocket and they are deployed into space where they slowly spread out in a line. Eventually, they are evenly spaced in an orbit around the earth.”
Greig said satellites otherwise known as ‘Starlink trains’ would be visible again on Friday morning from about 5:50am - the highest in the North East as seen from Tauranga.
Although the sky might be getting a bit light by then.
“When these lines or satellites go over, you’ll see a line of lights that look like little stars going across the sky.”
The trains had reinvigorated interest in astronomy.
“We often post Facebook alerts for when there are some good opportunities to see these. It’s quite popular with a lot of people and actually generated quite a lot of interest in astronomy.
“We noticed quite an increase in the number of people coming along to our public meeting, following the Starlink launches. They were generally interested in the satellite trains and also wanted to learn more about the planets and what else is in the sky.”
