More and more people are mistaking SpaceX Starlink satellites for anomalous phenomena

Telecommunications satellites Starlink owned by Elon Musk (Elon Musk) SpaceX, are increasingly becoming the cause of public reports of recording unexplained anomalous phenomena. The devices often move in the night sky in a line one after another and are clearly visible from the surface of the earth with the naked eye, especially soon after the next batch of satellites is launched into orbit.

Flying Starlink satellites in the night sky of Poland / Image source: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto

In recent years, leaks and revelations by government officials have revived debate about anomalous phenomena, such as mysterious lights in the sky and flying objects moving in strange ways. All this has led to the fact that questions about the existence of alien life and the appearance of unidentified flying objects in the visibility zone of people are again being actively discussed throughout the world.

The growing interest of people in unexplained anomalous phenomena has returned attention to questions about whether recorded phenomena are evidence of extraterrestrial life. Against this backdrop, the Pentagon’s Anomaly Research Operations (AARO), created in 2022 to collect and analyze information about anomalous phenomena, stated that it “has not found any evidence of the existence of extraterrestrial beings, their activity or technology.” The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) also commissioned an advisory council to study the topic. Last year, a senior agency official said NASA had found “no compelling evidence” that any of the sightings were extraterrestrial in origin.

US lawmakers from both parties convened hearings and passed a series of laws to push the Pentagon to be more open about anomalous phenomena. This week, a House committee questioned a group of former government officials about the matter. They all called on the government to continue studying the anomalies and warned against excessive state secrecy.

One of the requirements of the US Congress in 2021 provided for the provision of an annual report to the public by the US Department of Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on cases of observation of anomalous phenomena. The AARO published its full year report this week. It states that the agency received 757 reports of anomalous events over a 13-month period from mid-2023 to mid-2024. More than half of these reports were never explained, according to AARO.

Lawmakers believe many anomalous events could be tested and explained if AARO received more funding. The airspace is more congested than ever with traffic, consumer drones and satellites, the number of which is growing at a rapid pace, which significantly affects the number of reports of anomalous events.

«AARO is increasingly encountering cases where satellites of the Starlink constellation were mistaken for an anomalous phenomenon. For example, a commercial pilot reported white flashing lights in the night sky. The pilot did not indicate the altitude or speed of these objects, nor did he provide additional data or images. AARO estimates that these flashing lights are associated with the launch of the Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral, Florida, that same evening, approximately one hour before the observation,” the agency’s report said.

AARO Director Jon Kosloski said his agency’s experts compared reports of such sightings to launches of Falcon 9 rockets with Starlink satellites on board. It was found that after being delivered into outer space, the satellites cluster together and reflect more sunlight to Earth, which is why they are clearly visible from the surface of the planet. Later they rise to their given orbits and become dimmer.

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