Posted on 12/30/2025 12:07:25 PM PST by MtnClimber
Explanation: Yes, but can your comet tail do this? No, and what you are seeing is not the tail of a comet. The picture features a cleverly overlayed time-lapse sequence of a group of satellites orbiting Earth together in June. Specifically, these are Starlink communications satellites in low Earth orbit reflecting back sunlight before sunrise to Inner Mongolia, China. Although the satellites appear to the human eye as points, the 20-second-long camera exposures caused them to appear as short streaks. Currently there are over 9000 Starlinks in orbit, with more being launched nearly every week. Other satellite constellations are also being planned.
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For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.
Pinging the APOD list
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Cool. Didn’t know sats had nav lights.
Wow.
They don't. It's sunlight reflecting off the satellites under certain conditions.
Itās a cool photo.
SpaceX has launched some of those "other satellite constellations." Why? Less expensive, VERY reliable.*
What a concept!
*Some of the SpaceX Falcon 9 first stages have returned and been reused over THIRTY TIMES!
Drives down the cost of each launch.
Capitalism In Space!
Why are all of them blinking on and off exactly the same?
Wow. So cool, so beautiful. I enjoy your posts of the APOD every single day, but this one is the best one in a while. Just outstanding.
Theyāre a bunch of individual moving points in a 20 second time exposure, so they look like lines.
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