The train of shimmering lights that glowed in the night sky wasn’t some type of UFO --- although it’s easy to see in the footage how someone could easily make that conclusion.
Published Mar. 2, 2022 1:13 PM EST | Updated Mar. 2, 2022 1:26 PM EST
A star-studded night sky over Vétroz, Switzerland, was interrupted by an eerie string of lights on Saturday, Feb. 26, but one skywatcher was outside waiting for the lights to appear.
"This is it," the man said while filming what appeared to be a row of stars gliding across the sky.
To the untrained eye, the lights could spark rumors of UFOs, but not to folks who were anticipating them. In fact, the parade of lights appeared right on schedule.
A train of SpaceX Starlink satellites flies over the Swiss Alps on Feb. 26, 2022. (Newsflare)
The lights were not from a UFO but dozens of new SpaceX Starlink satellites which were launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Southern California just hours earlier on Feb. 25.
These formations are known as satellite trains with satellites following each other in quick succession. In cases like the one in Switzerland late last month, the train can be tightly packed, but in other cases, the satellites can be spread farther apart.
The Starlink satellites are not emitting light, but rather are reflecting light from the sun. This is most pronounced in the hours just after nightfall or just before daybreak.
SpaceX has launched over 2,000 Starlink satellites over the past few years, according to Space.com, with thousands more to come. The company made news in early February after it launched 49 Starlink satellites, but 40 were knocked out by a solar storm.
Thousands of satellites are required for SpaceX to achieve its goal of having access to high-speed internet around the globe. This could be a game-changer for remote areas of the globe where internet access is extremely limited or unavailable altogether.
However, the fleet of internet-providing satellites does not come without a catch.
In this photo taken May 6, 2021, with a long exposure, a string of SpaceX StarLink satellites passes over an old stone house near Florence, Kan. (AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann, File)
Thousands of satellites constantly orbiting the Earth can interfere with astronomers taking observations of the night sky, as well as contribute to the growing issue of satellites and debris in low-Earth orbit.
SpaceX has worked to make the satellites less reflective, but when the conditions are right like they were over Switzerland on Feb. 26, the satellites can easily be seen with the naked eye.
"Wasn't sure whether that one would be visible but it is," the man said about the train of satellites while recording the video.
The satellites tend to appear the brightest in the sky in the days immediately following launch before becoming "invisible to the naked eye within a week of launch," according to SpaceX.
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SpaceX is planning at least two more Starlink launches in March, according to SpaceFlightNow, with more to follow throughout 2022.
For a chance to see a train of Starlink satellites like the video from Switzerland, observers will need cloud-free weather to keep an eye on the sky during the nights following launch.
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