Why you may see strange bright lights in the San Francisco Bay Area sky tonight - SF Gate

You may have spotted a mysterious string of lights, lined up in a row and moving like a train, across the nighttime sky Thursday.

Elon Musk is responsible for the show in the sky and tonight there will be a repeat performance that's even brighter.

Musk's company SpaceX launched the Starlink satellites on May 4 — yes, Star Wars Day — from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center. The Falcon 9 booster lofted 60 Starlink satellites into the atmosphere. 

The latest prediction as of 11:30 a.m. Friday for when the satellite train will first rise over the Bay Area sky is about 9:24 p.m. to 9:25 p.m. Friday. They will be visible for about 5 minutes, according to the website Heavens-Above, where you can plug in your location to determine what time the satellites will pass of your area. (Note: The viewing could change slightly through the day.)

The site indicated that tonight Starlink will pass almost directly overhead and will be 10 to 15 times bright than last night. The satellites will rise from the northwest and disappear into Earth's shadow shortly after passing overhead to the southeast. 

You can also check when the satellites will pass through your area here.  

The Starlink train is especially noticeable in the sky as it's "60 times closer to Earth than traditional satellites," according to the company, and can provide communication service to remote, underserved areas.

Made from reflective material, the satellites can become visible when the sunlight strikes them in the hours just after sunset or before sunrise, according to the International Astronomical Union.

"Every couple months they're launching another 60 of them," said Gerald McKeegan, an astronomer at the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland. "When they first launch them, they're small string of satellites that are close together, and then they slowly separate from each other. It's fun for people because you see this string of lights, but astronomers just go nuts due to the light pollution. They're supposedly taking them up higher in the atmosphere over time so they become less visible."

The union and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory have both expressed concern in the past over the satellites being too bright and causing problems for astronomers.

"The organization, in general, embraces the principle of a dark and radio-quiet sky as not only essential to advancing our understanding of the Universe of which we are a part, but also as a resource for all humanity and for the protection of nocturnal wildlife," the union said in a statement posted online. "We do not yet understand the impact of thousands of these visible satellites scattered across the night sky and despite their good intentions, these satellite constellations may threaten both."

McKeegan said the Starlink satellites as well as other satellites interfere with their work at the science center in Oakland. 

"We have an asteroid search program at the center and it involves taking images across the sky to look for moving objects," he explained. "What happens is these satellites eave this white streaks across the image. It ruins the image. It was a little bit of an issue before but it's a much bigger issue with more and more satellites."

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