SpaceX launched another batch of 52 Starlink internet satellites from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday, August 9th. The next night, Kevin Fetter of Brockville, Ontario, watched them fly past the Pleiades.
Fetter caught at least 51 of the satellites, some sparkling beautifully in high altitude sunlight. “They passed close enough to the star cluster to make a really nice view,” he says.
The August 9th launch was the SpaceX’s 21st Starlink mission of the year, bringing the total number of Starlinks in orbit to 3009. This is both an impressive achievement and a potentially troubling development for Earth’s orbital ecosystem. The next Starlink launch is scheduled for August 12th–today!–from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.