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STARLINK AURORAS: In the interior of Alaska, aurora tour guide Ronn Murray has been longing for high-speed Starlink internet. He still doesn\'t have the internet, but the satellites have arrived. On Sept. 2nd a bright train of Starlinks glided through the auroras outside Fairbanks:
\"We saw this while taking some guests out on our aurora tour,\" says Murray. \"It was really beautiful.\"
The Starlink satellites--49 of them--were launched on Aug. 31st from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. They flew over Alaska on Sept. 1st at 11 pm local time, then returned two hours later on Sept. 2nd at 1 am. \"We saw them both times,\" says Marketa Murray, Ronn\'s wife and business partner. \"The video is of the second flyby.\"
Starlink satellites are normally invisible to the naked eye. These, however, were very bright. Because the satellites had just been launched, they were still in a low orbit only 320 km high. At that altitude a Starlink can easily outshine a 1st magnitude star. Eventually the swarm will maneuver up to almost 600 km (their operational altitude) and dim accordingly.
SpaceX is launching Starlinks at a frenetic pace. A new batch of 51 just left Cape Canaveral on Sept. 5th, and another batch is set to launch on Sept. 10th. Check Heavens Above for flyby times; a bright train might be coming to your backyard.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/747900153?h=0477ea857c&loop=1&byline=0&portrait=0
\"We saw this while taking some guests out on our aurora tour,\" says Murray. \"It was really beautiful.\"
The Starlink satellites--49 of them--were launched on Aug. 31st from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. They flew over Alaska on Sept. 1st at 11 pm local time, then returned two hours later on Sept. 2nd at 1 am. \"We saw them both times,\" says Marketa Murray, Ronn\'s wife and business partner. \"The video is of the second flyby.\"
Starlink satellites are normally invisible to the naked eye. These, however, were very bright. Because the satellites had just been launched, they were still in a low orbit only 320 km high. At that altitude a Starlink can easily outshine a 1st magnitude star. Eventually the swarm will maneuver up to almost 600 km (their operational altitude) and dim accordingly.
SpaceX is launching Starlinks at a frenetic pace. A new batch of 51 just left Cape Canaveral on Sept. 5th, and another batch is set to launch on Sept. 10th. Check Heavens Above for flyby times; a bright train might be coming to your backyard.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/747900153?h=0477ea857c&loop=1&byline=0&portrait=0