Frosty
and clear skies should make viewing conditions ideal and it may be
possible to spot one of the Starlink constellations tonight as it makes
its way across the sky. The satellites appear as a "convoy" of bright
points of light, arranged in a line and should be visible at 6.01 pm if
you look from 237 degrees SW to 98 degrees E.
Starlink is a
constellation of satellites operated by Elon Musk's SpaceX. Currently
there are approximately 4200 satellites in orbit which operate in groups
and have the ability to offer Internet connectivity and broadband
speeds of 67 Mbs to regions where these services aren't currently
available because of remoteness or otherwise. Starlink is controversial
because of the number of satellites in orbit and the possible number of
future satellites, with 12,000 proposed, but that may extend to 42,000.
The issue is that the trails produced by the satellites can interfere
with astronomical observations, leaving tracks across long exposure
images.
AI image generated by Bing Image Creator