Watch: SpaceX Starlink Satellites Light Up The Sky

Following the official launch of SpaceX’s Starlink, the group of satellites made a spectacular appearance by forming what looked like a train of stars. The formation of the satellites was so bizarre and surprising that it even spawned a UFO hoax in the Netherlands.

On May 24, billionaire Elon Musk’s private aerospace company SpaceX deployed a total of 60 satellites from its Falcon 9 B5 rocket that was launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral. After around two hours from takeoff, the satellites were released at an altitude of 440 kilometers above Earth, according to Space.com.

Shortly after their deployment, the satellites fell into formation in a straight line and glided across space. The stunning event was captured on video by Dr. Marco Lanbroek of StatTrack Cam Leiden Blog, which provides information regarding the satellite tracking station in the Netherlands.

In the video, the satellites can be seen moving in a straight line with uneven spaces in between them. Langbroek explained that Starlink’s current train formation is not permanent. Since each satellite is using its own ion thrusters for propulsion, the formation will become more spread out as the cluster continues to move. Through these thrusters, the satellites will move to their operational altitude of 550 kilometers.

Although the formation of Starlink caused excitement among the scientific community and the general public, the sudden appearance of the satellites stirred up UFO watchers in the Netherlands.

Shortly after the satellites made their debut, reports of UFO sightings flooded UFO Meldpunt Nederland, a Dutch website that monitors extraterrestrial phenomena. Many of the reports were about a train of bright lights gliding across the sky while maintaining constant speed.

The 60 satellites are part of the first set from the Starlink project. SpaceX plans to deploy about 12,000 satellites in the future as part of SpaceX’s massive telecommunications initiative. As explained by Musk, the Starlink satellites will be used to provide faster internet connection to Earth.

In a previous tweet, the SpaceX founder noted that one group of 60 Starlink satellites will be able to provide more energy than the Space Station and will be able to generate one terabyte of bandwidth.