<p>That was a Starlink train, a group of SpaceX Starlink internet satellites previously deployed from a Falcon rocket and slowly spreading out into a line as they inch towards their target orbits. Specifically, that was almost certainly Starlink Group 6-12, which launched from Kennedy Space Center on September 3rd around 10:45pm with a batch of 21 satellites aboard.</p>
<p>You've fallen victim to a common illusion here. It's not that unusual for people to see a light in the sky and interpret it as hovering just overhead rather than being hundreds, thousands, or millions of miles away. Venus and even the moon are common subjects of this effect. And because objects in the sky don't move when you move across the ground, this can lead to reports of a car or airplane being &quot;chased&quot; by a light in the sky -- it's actually Venus standing in a fixed point in the sky, but since it's been interpreted as only a few thousand feet away, it seems to be matching the movements of the vehicle.</p>
<p>Even experienced observers can't reliably tell the altitude, size, and speed of a light in the sky, and can be fooled by their perceptions. (Experience doesn't make you better at identifying lights, it just makes you better at noticing when your brain is making assumptions.) We have to depend on radar returns and triangulation between observers in different locations to make those kinds of determination, because nothing else works.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-09-05T20:54:44.910Z
2023-09-05T21:07:11.827Z
2023-09-05T21:07:11.827Z
Darth Pseudonym
<p>At about 9:30pm on 9/4/2023 in the Dayton Ohio area went out on the back porch and look in the sky and I noticed one light flying in a straight line across the sky and it was going at a fast speed and it had no noise and it was high but not really high not as high as a commercial airliner and then after the one passed then I looked back to the right side of the sky and there were a whole bunch of them flying in a straight line at least 15 or 20 of them flying the same exact path as the first one then when they got across the sky to the left I noticed that they didn't keep flying across the horizon it looked like they faded away I am baffled by what I have seen I been asking google questions and I seen other people have seen similar lights in a line it looked like they were in formation and the first one was the look out or the bunch was chasing the first one</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-09-05T04:01:39.847Z
Probably starlink satellites, but nothing astronomical
planetmaker
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-09-05T04:06:54.757Z
It was a Starlink train, they passed over here (Louisville, KY) at 9:18. Photo: https://i.sstatic.net/RhkqO.jpg (the 20 second exposure makes them blend together)
Greg Miller
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-09-05T04:13:27.263Z
See also https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/32034/line-of-lights-moving-in-a-straight-line-with-a-few-following
planetmaker
<observational-astronomy><night-sky>
Seen over 15 strange lights flying in a straight line
James 
# Seen over 15 strange lights flying in a straight line

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-09-05)

At about 9:30pm on 9/4/2023 in the Dayton Ohio area went out on the back porch and look in the sky and I noticed one light flying in a straight line across the sky and it was going at a fast speed and it had no noise and it was high but not really high not as high as a commercial airliner and then after the one passed then I looked back to the right side of the sky and there were a whole bunch of them flying in a straight line at least 15 or 20 of them flying the same exact path as the first one then when they got across the sky to the left I noticed that they didn't keep flying across the horizon it looked like they faded away I am baffled by what I have seen I been asking google questions and I seen other people have seen similar lights in a line it looked like they were in formation and the first one was the look out or the bunch was chasing the first one

**Tags:** observational-astronomy, night-sky
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Probably starlink satellites, but nothing astronomical  
> **username_2**: It was a Starlink train, they passed over here (Louisville, KY) at 9:18. Photo: https://i.sstatic.net/RhkqO.jpg (the 20 second exposure makes them blend together)  
> **username_1**: See also https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/32034/line-of-lights-moving-in-a-straight-line-with-a-few-following  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2023-09-05. Score: 1

That was a Starlink train, a group of SpaceX Starlink internet satellites previously deployed from a Falcon rocket and slowly spreading out into a line as they inch towards their target orbits. Specifically, that was almost certainly Starlink Group 6-12, which launched from Kennedy Space Center on September 3rd around 10:45pm with a batch of 21 satellites aboard.

You've fallen victim to a common illusion here. It's not that unusual for people to see a light in the sky and interpret it as hovering just overhead rather than being hundreds, thousands, or millions of miles away. Venus and even the moon are common subjects of this effect. And because objects in the sky don't move when you move across the ground, this can lead to reports of a car or airplane being "chased" by a light in the sky -- it's actually Venus standing in a fixed point in the sky, but since it's been interpreted as only a few thousand feet away, it seems to be matching the movements of the vehicle.

Even experienced observers can't reliably tell the altitude, size, and speed of a light in the sky, and can be fooled by their perceptions. (Experience doesn't make you better at identifying lights, it just makes you better at noticing when your brain is making assumptions.) We have to depend on radar returns and triangulation between observers in different locations to make those kinds of determination, because nothing else works.


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