VIDEO: Strange lights mistaken for a UFO over Mississauga, Brampton and across Ontario
Published December 20, 2023 at 8:36 am
Anyone who looked up at the sky last night might have seen a strange chain of lights.
The string of lights appeared in the sky over Mississauga, Brampton, Caledon, Toronto and beyond Tuesday (Dec. 19) around 6:30 p.m., according to multiple posts on social media.
“Was going for dinner 6.30pm just now at the carpark saw this when looked up the sky.. anyone knows what this is?” one person posted in Mississauga Reddit.
“anyone else witness this just over longbranch, UFO? my own footage this evening,” another person posted on the South Etobicoke Community Group.
One person posted the lights over Jack Darling Park in Mississauga.
Another post on X notes the lights were seen over Brampton and Caledon.
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Several people had ideas on what the lights could be.
“Santa’s test driving his new cybersleigh,” one person said on Reddit.
“It’s fireworks over the plaza at Eglinton and Ridgeway,” another joked.
And of course, several people suggested an alien spaceship.
Elon Musk’s Starlink Satellites Spotted In Caledon/Brampton, Ontario 🛰️ @elonmusk @Starlink
.#starlink #spacex #elonmusk #satellite #Caledon #Brampton #Ontario #Toronto #ONpoli #Elon #cdnpoli #Canada pic.twitter.com/he8S0N0nMc— 401_da_sarpanch (@401_da_sarpanch) December 19, 2023
However, the consensus seems to be the lights were actually a Starlink satellite launch.
“STARLINK Satellite launch. I saw one for the first time a couple months ago in Mimico and was totally freaked out. But I found out pretty quick what it was. Still pretty cool to see,” one person said on Facebook.
The lights, often referred to as a “satellite train” are seen in several videos in locations around the world.
“Appearing as a string of bright lights in the sky, Starlink trains can look rather ‘otherwordly’ and have prompted numerous UFO-sighting reports when they first took to the skies,” notes space.com.
The long lines of lights are only visible shortly after launch, according to space.com.
Once the satellites climb to their operating altitude of 550 kilometres, they disperse and are far more difficult to differentiate against the backdrop of stars, space.com notes.
People can expect to see more launches in the future.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX may grow to as many as 42,000 satellites in orbit, according to a story this August in Business Insider. As of May 31, 2023, there are 4,198 Starlink satellites in orbit.
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