Community Corner
Starlink Glimpsed Over Long Island Skies On New Year's Night
It's expected to appear over the next few days, according to findstarlink.com. Send us your photos.
LONG ISLAND, NY — It was only a glimpse, but it made a lasting impression.
Long Island residents venturing outside, whether to walk their dogs or put out the trash, were treated to a brief spectacle on New Year's saw SpaceX's Starlink satellite cluster lined up in the night sky.
It was seen for only few minutes, then quickly disappeared.
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Many who saw it rushed for their cell phones or cameras to record the event, but it was gone by the time they came back.
They later rushed to chime in on social media either asking what it was or declared it.
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SpaceX said it launched its last Starlink satellite missions of 2024 on Tuesday, Space.com.
The trains are usually seen shortly after deploying, the site reported.
Not long after a brilliant sunset over the south shore of Mastic-Shirley, the satellite train became visible overhead.
It was spotted over eastern Long Island, according to posts on Facebook. Unique Fitness in Shirley, as well as over a neighborhood in Mastic, and Union Dock in Center Moriches are sites specifically mentioned.
The event started just before 6 p.m. with the promise of average visibility, then it decreased to poor visibility at around 6:20 p.m. to poor visibility, according to findstarlink.com.
It was slated for average visibility at around 5:54 a.m. on Thursday, followed by poor visibility at 6:10 p.m., which is expected to continue in the morning and evening until Monday, the site says.
Residents also took to Facebook about seeing the train in Pennsylvania and Connecticut.
Long Islanders were treated to a sight of SpaceX's Falcon 9 back in September 2022, as it burst across the sky after its Starlink mission launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Due to clear conditions, the launch of over 52 Starlink satellites was visible to people all across the East Coast just after 7:30 p.m., Space.com reported.
Editor's note: Anyone with photos or video of Starlink can send them to peggy.hoey@patch.com. They will be published in a separate story.
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