They should be visible around 9:52 p.m. for about four minutes.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Starlinks were present in the night sky in North Carolina on Thursday.
WCNC Weather Impact Chief Meteorologist Brad Panovich said the clear skies gave North Carolinians a chance to view the Starlinks.
They were visible around 9:52 p.m. and lasted about four minutes. They first appeared in the west and then migrated over to the southwest before disappearing. The maximum height of the viewing was be 60 degrees above the horizon.
“Should be nice little line of lights you will see, and we get pictures and calls all the time, people not knowing what those are,” Panovich said Thursday during the 5 p.m. newscast. “Starlink satellites are definitely what you’re seeing out there when you see that.”
A Falcon 9 rocket took off on Tuesday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, carrying 23 of SpaceX’s Starlink broadband satellites to low Earth orbit, including 13 which featured Direct to Cell capabilities. Originally, the launch was supposed to happen Monday but it got aborted just before liftoff. The reasoning for the scrubbed launch was not disclosed by SpaceX.
This particular launch was a first for Falcon 9’s first stage, SpaceX said. That’s not common for the company as it prides itself on reusing rockets.
🌩️ If you like weather, watch Brad Panovich and the WCNC Weather Impact Team on their Emmy Award-winning Weather IQ YouTube channel. 🎥
