Some Montanans saw something a bit odd up in the sky on Saturday night.
Kara Baszler sent in the video seen below, saying she and her husband were looking up in the night sky when they noticed the lights.
They started disappearing, and then reappearing. Kara says this happened around 8 p.m for a few minutes, looking west near Kelly Island (near Missoula).
She says she doesn't believe in aliens, so she thought maybe it was some kind of military training - but those lights were, in fact, small satellites passing overhead that were launched by SpaceX.
The SpaceX website explains: "SpaceX is developing a low latency, broadband internet system to meet the needs of consumers across the globe. Enabled by a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites, Starlink will provide fast, reliable internet to populations with little or no connectivity, including those in rural communities and places where existing services are too expensive or unreliable." The website Space.com has information about how you can track the movement of the satellites.
This isn't the first time a string of Starlink satellites have been seen over Montana and raised eyebrows. In December 2019, people in and around Browning, Rocky Boy, and Lodgepole shared photos with MTN News that showed a row of bright lights in the sky, and people in other areas of Montana reported seeing them, too.
At the time, meteorologist John Belski of TV station WLKY reported that SpaceX launched two sets of satellites this year called Starlink. Each launch had 60 small satellites that orbit the earth at an altitude of more than 300 miles. And meteorologist Will Haenni of station WWMT posted: "The bright dots in the sky are satellites, approximately 175 miles above the surface of the Earth. They appear bright due to their solar array reflecting sunlight back to the dark side of the globe."
