Sky watchers in Alaska treated to SpaceX satellites and glowing aurora


The Northern lights (Aurora Borelias) over the city Tromso in northern Norway. Aurora watchers in Alaska this month saw both a brilliant aurora display and a string of SpaceX satellites crossing the night.

 Photo by Morten Bjoernbakk/EPA

Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Sky watchers in Alaska were treated to both a dramatic green Aurora and a group of Space X Starlink satellites.

Space.com posted a video Thursday of the striking display, which Alaska aurora tour guide Ronn Murray saw during an aurora tour this month.





"We saw this while taking some guests out on our aurora tour," Murray said. "It was really beautiful.A trail of Starlink satellites were seen crossing the night sky in front of the aurora near Fairbanks Alaska.

According to SpaceWeather.com these Starlink satellites are so close to Earth that they easily outshine a first-magnitude star.

SpaceX has said it's attempting to dim individual satellites, but some astronomers are still concerned that the number and brightness of SpaceX satellites in orbit can interfere with observation of stars.

SpaceX has launched more than 2800 satellites into orbit since 2019. Those satellites are used to provide Internet services to remote corners of the world, including at sea.

According to Space.com, the SpaceX satellites seen in the aurora video were not yet in operational orbit. They were at an estimated altitude of 198 miles.

Experts say 'fireball' streaking across sky in Scotland, Northern Ireland likely space junk

Sept. 15 (UPI) -- People in Scotland and Northern Ireland saw something unusual in the sky on Wednesday night -- a fiery streak that looked like a meteor, but wasn't.

The fireball was also seen by some skywatchers in northern England. The UK Meteor Network said about 800 people reported seeing the streaking fireball, which was visible for about 20 seconds.

If it wasn't a meteor, what was it?

Astronomers believe it was a piece of space junk, possibly connected with SpaceX's Starlink satellite program. That possibility was strengthened by the fact that the fireball appeared to break apart as it headed northwest across the sky.

"The preliminary trajectory has been calculated by the [International Meteor Organization] and indicates that the object, which we now believe to be space debris, would have landed in the Atlantic south of the Hebrides," the UK Meteor Network said in a tweet.



UK Meteor Network astronomer John Maclean said the fireball was traveling too slowly to be a meteor.

"What we're looking at at the moment is a Starlink satellite, which was actually due to deorbit or re-enter the atmosphere," Maclean said according to The Guardian. "But it is possible it could have deorbited slightly early."

Mclean said most meteors enter the Earth's atmosphere at speeds up to 80,000 mph, while space junk typically moves at about 30,000 mph.

"As a result space junk is visible across the sky for much longer," he added. "A meteor would be a matter of a few seconds, whereas this was visible for 20 seconds. That's too slow for a meteor."