Some Island residents may have noticed a trail of lights flying across the night sky on Thursday evening.
The lights seen in Victoria were likely part of the Starlink internet network, which has thousands of satellites flying in low altitude around the earth.
According to satellite tracking website Find Starlink, a string of Starlink satellites was highly visible over Victoria around 9 p.m. Thursday.
Similar lights are expected to fly over Victoria again around 9:06 p.m. Friday.
A video submitted to CHEK News shows a string of lights flying over the Island on Thursday.
A string of lights are pictured over Victoria on Sept. 14, 2023 (Tony Rondow)
According to SpaceX, the parent company behind Starlink, dozens of Starlink satellites were recently launched into low-earth orbit this past week.
Twenty-two satellites were launched on Sept. 8, and another 21 satellites launched on Sept. 11.
The satellites have been spotted over Vancouver Island several times over the past two years.
RELATED: Those lights you saw in the sky last night were likely SpaceX satellites
In August 2022, technology columnist and retired B.C. physics teacher Peter Vogel said that SpaceX was planning to launch more than 10,000 Starlink satellites to complete its satellite internet constellation.
Around this time last year, the company had already launched around 3,100 satellites, with “still another seven to eight thousand to go,” said Vogel.
Not everyone enjoys seeing the satellites streak across the sky, however.
Last year, Jim Todd, space science education director for the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, told CHEK News the satellites can sometimes act as a “pollution” to scientists who are hoping to get data or images of the night sky.
He did admit that satellites are generating more curiosity and interest in astronomy, however.
Adam Chan
