How to see deployed Starlink "Racetrack" flares

@Mick West has written an article summarising the full Starlink-UAP saga.....

The Great Starlink Racetrack UFO Flap of 2022
In the late summer of 2022, a new flap began. Commercial airline pilots flying at night started seeing lights in the sky from inside their darkened cockpits. These were like nothing they had seen before. The lights seemed very far away, possibly in space, and the pilots described them as moving in "racetrack" patterns due to the way they brightened then dimmed like planes flying in a racetrack-shaped circuit with their landing lights on.
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The pilots were adamant that what they were looking at were not satellites and, more specifically, that they were not Starlink satellites. They knew this because they had seen Starlink satellites, and this looked nothing like what they had seen.

The pilots were not entirely wrong. Starlink is a constellation of thousands of low-orbit satellites that are designed to provide internet connections to remote areas. The satellites are launched in groups of fifty or more, and the groups are deployed all at the same time. For a time, before they reach their final orbits, the satellites circle Earth in a "train" that, from the ground and illuminated by the sun, looks like a long string (or train) of bright lights (see Figure 2).
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Full article: https://skepticalinquirer.org/2023/02/the-great-starlink-racetrack-ufo-flap-of-2022/
 
flarkey said:
@Mick West has written an article summarising the full Starlink-UAP saga.....

The Great Starlink Racetrack UFO Flap of 2022
Click to expand...
Yeah, I actually wrote it early December. That's an issue with paper publications, long lead-times mean it's not always the most up-to-date take.
 
A nice example of Starlink flares seen in Maryland recently has been posted on Reddit...

https://v.redd.it/wjs2dv3gc5sa1




Updating to share a few more videos I received from my mom. These were taken between 2:48 and 3:02am Tuesday (apologies i misheard her in my original post) according to the data on the videos. I can definitely see this being satellite glares, but it also is interesting that there was a pilot who described something similar in the skies a few hundred miles south in NC around the same time.
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Source: https://imgur.com/a/j79G24b
 
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My initial reaction is surely thats too early for the satellites to be catching the sun?
Nearly 4 hours before sunrise, as they don't orbit that high.
Maybe other satellites?
Or I could just be wrong
 
captancourgette said:
My initial reaction is surely thats too early for the satellites to be catching the sun?
Nearly 4 hours before sunrise, as they don't orbit that high.
Maybe other satellites?
Or I could just be wrong
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No, that time is when the sun's at the right elevation this time of year in MD. As we get closer to summer the right viewing conditions move towards the middle of the night and in a few weeks' time the sun will never be low enough at that latitude for the sats to become visible at all. I guess people there will then habe to wait until mid August or so before it'll be possible to see them again.
 
captancourgette said:
Are you sure?
I checked here, and between 2:45 and 3am seems a lot earlier than possible viewing times in maryland
https://findstarlink.com/#4361831;3
Or am I understanding this wrong?
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The findstarlink.com website only really deals with the Starlink trains that go overhead. The ones that have been seen here are very low to the horizon, maybe only 5° above. The sun should be around 40° below the horizon and in the direction that the flares were seen, in this case NW (I think).
 
Starlink flares seen from Texas...


Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/12g4pkl/compilation_of_uaps_captured_near_friona_tx_march/


wanted to send some videos i took before heading into work while riding passenger. these lights had been showing up before since the 22nd of March at around 4:20AM (no pun intended). finally on Monday (27th) morning I decided to keep my phone camera recording constantly to see if i could capture the same lights that had appeared before and sure enough they did and even disappeared shortly after, then repeated it 4 times. They preferably like to show up near a meat processing plant called Cargill Meat Solutions near Friona TX on highway 60 and it seems like it adores the attention of drivers too.
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Source: https://youtu.be/2z9sIw5GFWU

Sun position and direction is as we'd expect for Starlink Flares.
https://www.suncalc.org/#/34.5861,-102.7928,10/2023.03.22/04:25/1/3

1681072236693.png
 
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FatPhil said:
If what they're looking at is over Fearrington and Sanford is behind them (both mentioned in the first 60 seconds), then there's a good chance they're looking NNE more than E.
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Mapped for reference.

1683107103370.png


They talk of two helicopters, a UNC (Univeristy of North Carolina Hosptial) over Fearrington at 2200ft and an AirLife at 2800 ft coming up from Sanford. Checking FlightRadar24 that suggest the time of the video is approx 06:05 AM

1683109185703.png
 
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Fox News published a story back in February saying that The National Weather Service have captured a video of a "swarm of meteors" towards the east at dawn in Kansas. Looks more like deployed starlink flares to me. Maybe they didn't realise the video was a timelapse?

https://www.foxnews.com/us/kansas-night-sky-lit-small-swarm-meteors

1683705057919.png


Kansas night sky lit up by 'small swarm of meteors'

The National Weather Service's Goodland office captured video of meteors lighting up the night sky on Sunday.

Video shows several streaking lights low on the horizon in the early hours of Sunday morning. A small swarm of meteors burned up as they traveled through Earth's atmosphere near Goodland, Kansas, early Sunday morning. (National Weather Service Goodland)

The National Weather Service captured the video with an eastern-facing camera in Goodland, a small town in northwestern Kansas. Roughly 48.5 tons of meteoritic material strikes Earth every day, almost all of it vaporizing as it travels through the atmosphere and creating "shooting stars," according to NASA.

The meteorites that do make it to Earth's surface go unnoticed for the most part, but occasionally they strike in an inhabited area close to humans. Several meteors were captured by a camera at the National Weather Service's Goodland office. (National Weather Service Goodland)

Earlier this week, a nearly 1000-pound meteorite measuring two feet wide crashed near McAllen, Texas.
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This is the source of the video - the NWS Goodland (Kansas) Twitter account...


Source: https://twitter.com/NWSGoodland/status/1627298976893661184?s=20
 
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flarkey said:
Another case on Reddit that turned out to be (probably) Starlink flares. This was in South Carolina, looking to the North at 1am on 14 August 2023.
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This one too, I think — to the right of bottom-center, starting around 00:16:




 
Max Phalange said:
This one too, I think — to the right of bottom-center, starting around 00:16:
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Yes I saw that and commented that it was Starlink


Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/15q5tec/i_dont_believe_in_aliens_visiting_us_ive_been/jw4qdyn/

I find that debunking comments can get lost when they are in a thread with many others, 620 in this case. When I'm in a debunking mood on Reddit I tend to filter the posts by "New" so that I can get in early before the bunk arrives. :p
 
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What's annoying is that guy just ghosted without so much as a thanks when his sighting was explained. Maybe the second astrophotographer this month to use UFOs to get some eyes on their work.
 
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What I think are starlink flares in West Virginia.


Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/ufo/comments/16lcgso/i_recorded_uapufos_in_west_virginia_links_below/


External Quote:
First time
Unedited UFO/UAP footage from West Virginia - YouTube

Second time (no video)

Third time

Source: https://youtu.be/WSHwik9dbvk?si=D6D9OLoRJeoJu9LD


All 3 times were at approx. 3am on a Friday night/Saturday morning

LOCATION:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/LNzGov39UDYEkTzy7
I checked suncal and stellarium and the Sun was around 40 degrees below the horizon and there were starlink satellites potentially flaring NNE near the Big Dipper around the time of the videos. (Note I accidentally checked the 17th in the screenshots but I went back and checked the 16th and it looked similar in both respects). The OP got offended at suggesting satellite flares and didn't confirm what direction they were filming so I didn't press.


Source: https://imgur.com/a/psr7dQb
 
MonkeeSage said:
What I think are starlink flares in West Virginia.
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Maybe you can ask him how he can reconcile his "it's not that there's [...] anything anywhere out there" (1st vid, ts=1m04s-1m09s) with the number of starlinks above the horizon in your imgur gallery right in the direction he's looking? His statement appears to be devoid of factiness.
 
A potential sighting of Starlink flares from Mexico on Reddit. I think the actual time of the sighting is 26 October 2023 3.30am and the bright 'star' is Venus.

https://v.redd.it/75ywxxkk0jwb1


Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/17gtn4k/san_jos%C3%A9_del_cabo_082623_330_am/

Starlink seems to in the right spot...

Screenshot_20231026_232645_Chrome.jpg


1698363353474.png


23.061747642614563, -109.70054172841296

Sitrec Matches perfectly (Big green blob is Venus)
1698363579475.png




Permalink: https://www.metabunk.org/u/WMqLEn.html
 

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flarkey said:
Looks more like helium balloons with LEDs attached floating along in the sky to me
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They look just a bit too coordinated in movement for me. You'd expect some divergence of paths unless they were controlled, and I'm not really getting that impression. So I have a preference for drones presently. However, we can agree on smallish-and-nearish.
 
Mt Washington is at 44.27 N -71.30 W and NH is at UTC-4, so the date time is Nov 1 2023 at 0720UTC. Lets put those details into Sitrec and look east...

Yes, just to the left of the bright Planet Venus (the green 'star' in the right hand pane), which is what w can see in the video attached to the tweet.

Permalink: https://www.metabunk.org/u/L85tVZ.html
1698912799275.png


I've tried to match the time in Sitrec to the Webcam in this snip below

1698913425182.png
 
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Was able to spot them last night, (Perth, Australia) around 11:15 looking slightly west of south, about 5-10 degrees above the horizon. Sun was at minus 41 degrees. All were going from west to east, but were quite infrequent, so you would see a couple, then wait a minute or so until another appeared, so after 15-20 minutes I got bored. I had to contend with bright street lights and heavy light pollution from industrial zones in that direction, but if you knew which direction to look, you could spot them easily. Also it helped being in an elevated position.

Checking Stellarium the Starlinks weren't showing being illuminated. Other satellites were, and I did see a number of other satellite flaring to the south and one quick flash higher up. But using Sitrec showed Starlinks illuminated and flaring bright in that direction at that time. Will try again tonight.
 
another sighting on Reddit, this time from Florida...

Hello r/UFOs long time lurker first time poster! Calling all Southwest Florida astronomers and night photographers! I'd love anyone's help trying to ID these/this... I've ruled out commerical airlines, drones, satellite, small planes, hot air balloons (can't fly at night), military flares, Military after burners (maybe?), shuttle launches, starlink, etc..

For several weeks now I've seen these bizarre lights in the direction of Venus which is due East shot in this video and filmed 0430ish EST Halloween morning. I've seen them every morning I am on shift both where I work and my morning commute. One shift I did not see it, because it was a cloudy morning. Additionally, they seem to rise with Venus then eventually closer to say 0500 EST, Venus is too far above the horizon and I don't see them anymore. Pretty much 30* or more off the horizon it's gone. Makes me think some sort of reflection, but I am not that smart... Lastly, with Daylight Savings Time, the siting time has shifted from 0400-0500ish to 0300-0430ish.

I am trying to get better videos/pictures and some crappy telescope shots, but not really my trade. The video posted was shot on an iPhone. There's a blue hue that shows until I turn the side LED lights off in the truck. I have a strobe light on, required for the job and the reflection in the foreground is a sign on the perimeter fence.

Venus is the light top right and the anomaly occurs to the left and below Venus.

*Not an active user and apologies if I don't respond to questions in a timely manner. *

TLDR

If you live in South Florida/SWFL look due East from 0300-0430ish and see if you can see lights in the direction of Venus before it risies to high off the horizon.
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Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/17ptlrs/sw_florida_venus_anomaly/?share_id=-YIAySdr8gPeNTvKxV29Q&utm_content=1&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1
 
Sighting of Starlink Flares reported as UFOs on Reddit again from Southern Massachusetts towards the east around 3am for multiple nights......

I live in southeastern mass. and my view is to the east over Cape Cod bay. At 300 every clear morning now, i am seeing orange lights in the sky moving in all directions. They just appear, move around and fade out. curious as to what you think
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Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1815g37/glowing_orange_lights_in_mass/

Sitrec confrims the presence of Flaring Starlinks

http://www.metabunk.org/u/vx24j3.html

1700669091414.png
 
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Another Video on Reddit from Texas showing starlink flares towards the western horizon at about 9pm.

Unfortunately the dashcam used to record this has a lot of dead pixels, so it can be kinda hard to pick out the stars/satellites. The best example is at about the 0m05s mark, so no need to watch the whole thing.


Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/18u7hsv/triangle_lights/

Geolocated, just for fun....

Driving West on FM1585, near the electrical substation Wolfforth Interchange.

1703940352278.png


33.49044049192258, -102.05518461030614
https://openinframap.org/#11.14/33.5392/-101.9949

Confirmed in Streetview:

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.490...LDQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!9m2!1b1!2i43?entry=ttu
1703940209973.png
 

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