This week on Star Watch, we are doing things a little differently. This week is inspired by some viewer photos.
Last week, we received a lot of photos of a line of lights in the night sky and lots of questions asking what they were.
They were actually one of the SpaceX Starlink satellite trains that moved across our region. This is a group of satellites that are put together to provide broadband internet.
The most recent launch of one of these trains was on Sept. 3. These satellites orbit pretty close to the surface of the earth at about 340 miles above the surface, so they are easy to see at night. But these trains move very quickly across the sky at about 17,000 miles per hour, making about 16 rotations around the world in a single day.
When one of these trains moves across the sky, it looks like a line of bright lights moving swiftly overhead.
But if you would like to see one of these Starlink trains, StarLink-92 will be in the sky Saturday night. At 8:20 p.m. it will pass over the Tri-Cities for about five minutes. It will appear in the northwest sky and disappear in the southeast.
And if you are up early on Sunday morning, at 06:10 a.m. you might be able to see Starlink-96 moving across the sky. It will be visible for about seven minutes and will appear in the northwest and disappear in the southeast.
