Long line of light streaks across Vietnam's sky: Experts say it's Elon Musk's satellite cluster

Images of long streaks of light streaking across the sky of Vietnam have been shared by many people on social media. What exactly are these?

Recently, many social media accounts shared photos capturing the moment dozens of long streaks of light following each other in the night sky, believed to have been taken in Quang Tri on the evening of July 24.

Mr. Linh - one of the people who witnessed this moment said that he recorded the image of the streak of light at around 7:30 p.m. on July 24. Ms. Hong Nhat (living in Quang Tri) also said that that night when she accidentally looked up at the night sky, she also saw streaks of light passing by very quickly. She also wondered what this phenomenon was.

Photo of a streak of light in the sky of Quang Tri on the evening of July 24

“This is the first time I have seen such streaks of light, they passed by so quickly. I went online and saw many people witnessing the same thing as me. I don’t think it’s anything too mysterious, just a natural or man-made phenomenon. But it’s still interesting to look at,” she said.

Account Dinh Thanh said: "I saw this phenomenon once a few years ago but no one believed me." "It looks so strange, doesn't it?", nickname Phan Nhut expressed.

Speaking to Thanh Nien , Mr. Dang Vu Tuan Son, Chairman of the Vietnam Astronomy and Cosmology Association (VACA), affirmed that it was not an astronomical phenomenon but rather the Starlink satellite system of SpaceX (USA) moving, creating a long streak of light in the night sky.

Accordingly, SpaceX began launching the first Starlink satellite in 2019. Since then, the company has thousands of satellites in low Earth orbit and covering the globe.

On March 25, a similar phenomenon occurred in the night sky over the Swiss Alps when 60 Starlink satellites of billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX flew one after another across the night sky.

Speaking to Thanh Nien, the head of an astronomy club in Ho Chi Minh City also confirmed that the long streaks of light moving across the sky are a characteristic image of the Starlink satellite cluster. This satellite cluster has a low orbit and can be seen with the naked eye when observing the sky.

"With the widespread use of Starlink around the world today, it is normal to be able to observe Starlink in the sky of Vietnam," he added. Previously, this satellite constellation also faced many objections from foreign astronomers when they said that these satellites would hinder scientific observations, making it difficult for them to observe the night sky because they reflect light.

thanhnien.vn