An image from Calgary on Saturday, May 15, showing Starlink satellites streaking across the sky. Sightings came in from around central Alberta as well. (Don Hladiuk)

By Josh Hall/RDnewsnow

Streak of light had Central Albertans looking skyward this weekend

May 17, 2021 | 11:18 AM

RED DEER, AB– If you were looking skyward over the weekend during the nighttime hours, you may have witnessed a peculiar string of unfading lights.

rdnewsNOW heard from curious skywatchers around central Alberta wondering what exactly it was that streaked across the sky Saturday evening.

According to Don Hladiuk, a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, the blips were Elon Musk’s 52 Starlink satellites launched from Florida just before 5 p.m. Mountain Time on Saturday.

The Starlink program, a high-speed internet service powered by satellites orbiting around Earth, launched last year.

According to SpaceX.com, the folks at Starlink firmly believe in, “the importance of a natural night sky for all of us to enjoy, which is why we have been working with leading astronomers around the world to better understand the specifics of their observations and engineering changes we can make to reduce satellite brightness.”

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Some time after the satellites are launched, a visor is deployed to block the sunlight from hitting the brightest parts of the spacecraft.

Space.com — a separate publication — notes SpaceX has launched more than 1,600 satellites, and more than 500,000 people have signed up for the internet service, to date.

You can track upcoming sightings of these satellites at findstarlink.com.