What is Starlink Satellite Train?

What is Starlink Satellite Train?

Starlink Satellite Train is a spectacular view in the night sky if you are lucky enough to watch the constellation of Starlink satellites soon after the launch of a new batch of them. Starlink Satellite Train will be seen as a series of bright white dots moving across the sky like a train while other stars in the sky will appear static during a short period of obervation. I have not been lucky enough to watch it, though I have seen a video of the Starlink satellite train posted online from Japan. I can imagine the thrill of viewing it directly as I had while watching the International Space Station moving across the sky once, when I read the pass timing in a local newspaper over a decade back. Though I have many more opportunities to watch the International Space Station now with the help of tracking apps to find timing and direction, I have not ventured into it because I am busy at that time trying to contact other amateur radio stations through the voice transponder onboard the space station!

Starlink Satellites provide high speed internet direct to the consumer with special ground antennas and there are thousands of them up in the sky, with a steadily increasing number with each launch. For a period of time after launch, Starlink Satellites are in an orbit of around 400 km altitude, similar to the International Space Station. After a period they move apart and higher to around 550 km altitude and will no longer be visibile as ‘train’. So it is important for you to know the time of launch in order to view the Starlink Satellite Train, which may even be several times a week. It is also mentioned that visibility has come down recently because of specific programs aimed at reducing visibility by darkening the satellites to prevent interference from other astonomical observations. Satellites are seen when the sky is dark and the satellite reflects sunlight back to us. Albedo is the term used to mention the reflectivity. Incidentally, Venus is so bright because it has a high Albedo of 0.7, meaning that it can reflect about 70% of the incident sunlight.

One of the websites which can tell you about the visibility of Starlink Satellites is https://findstarlink.com/. When I tried just now, I got this message: “Sorry, the newest Starlink isn’t very visible at your location during the next 5 days. This might change in the coming weeks, due to changing orbits. The older Starlinks might still be visible (please see below)”. Anyway, that site gives a good visual of the Starlink Satellite Train. It has been mentioned elsewhere that the missing dots in the ‘train’ are satellites which could malfunction after launch and burn up high in the atmosphere! As in case of other satellites, Starlink Satellite Train may be visible only in a clear sky, free of city light pollution, typically in a rural setting with good view all around.