Weather

Actions

What's that streak of light in the sky?

KRIS 6 Viewers capture mysterious celestial feature over the Coastal Bend
STARLINK SATELLITES AS SEEN BY STEVE GARRETT
Posted at 12:10 PM, Feb 03, 2023
and last updated 2023-02-03 13:10:28-05

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — What's that streak of light in the sky?

Many of our viewers have messaged in with pictures and video of a line or evenly spaced dots in the sky. This mysterious feature was seen last Thursday night and early Friday morning: the answer is pretty interesting.

What you see in these images are actually satellites. You may have heard of Starlink, a neat row or "constellation" of satellites launched into orbit by Elon Musk's company SpaceX.

The company began launching Starlink satellites back in 2019. According to the company, the goal is to provide internet coverage around the world from space. This service is already available in the Coastal Bend.

Sometimes they appear as a string of bright lights because sunlight reflects off the surface of the satellites as they pass overhead. Here in the coastal bend, we'll be able to see two Starlink constellations over the weekend.

For ways to track them, check out https://findstarlink.com/ or https://james.darpinian.com/satellites/.