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Here's why Tri-State residents may see a string of lights in the night sky

No, it's not an alien invasion
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CINCINNATI — Have you seen a weird string of lights in the sky lately around the Tri-State? Well don't stress, it's not an alien invasion.

For the past few years, sightings of a horizontal line of lights moving across the sky have been happening across the globe.

These lights are actually satellites from Elon Musk's Starlink.

Saturday night, these peculiar looking satellites were spotted flying over Harrison around 8:30 p.m.

SpaceX Satelliti

Musk's SpaceX has been launching Starlink satellites since 2019, but beginning July 2023 the company began launching them on a weekly basis — so the night sky feature is probably going to be seen more often.

Because of SpaceX's weekly launches, there are currently more than 4,500 satellites in the sky. While that may seem like a lot already, Musk has previously said his goal is to have 42,000 in space.

Starlink offers broadband internet from those satellites, which orbit the Earth at a lower orbit than some other satellites. The lower orbit allows the satellite network to support high-data-rate activities like streaming, gaming and video calls, which makes Starlink a good choice for rural areas. This lower orbit is also the reason these satellites are more visible to the human eye.

The Tri-State has had multiple reported Starlink sightings in the past.

Find Starlink, a website tracking Starlink satellites, shows when your area has the best visibility for seeing the satellites, as well as where they were most recently seen.

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