SpaceX's Starlink Satellites Will Be Visible Above The UK Tonight

SpaceX's Starlink satellites will be visible across Britain this week, starting this evening.

Kicking off tonight at 7.25pm, the satellites will be visible early the morning and then late evening for the three days, according to Find Starlink.

If you want to catch a glimpse of them, weather permitting, they'll be visible tomorrow (20 October) at 6.29am and 8.01pm, 21 October at 6.50am and 7.01pm and then 22 October at 5.42am and 7.37pm.

PA

Elon Musk's satellites are designed to bring high speed broadband connection to remote areas of the world.

Or as SpaceX explains: "With performance that far surpasses that of traditional satellite internet, and a global network unbounded by ground infrastructure limitations, Starlink will deliver high speed broadband internet to locations where access has been unreliable, expensive or completely unavailable.

"Starlink is targeting service in the Northern US and Canada in 2020, rapidly expanding to near global coverage of the populated world by 2021."

These particular satellites fly at a height of around 550km, about half the usual height of satellites, meaning they are often visible in the night sky.

SpaceX has sent almost 800 Starlink satellites into the skies, but plans to eventually launch 12,000.

And the efforts are already paying off - just last week the Hoh Tribe in Washington State announced they were getting a fast Internet connection for the first time.

Melvinjohn Ashue, vice chairman of the tribe, said: "We're very remote. The last eight years I felt like we've been paddling up river with a spoon and almost getting nowhere with getting internet to the reservation.

"It seemed like out of nowhere, SpaceX came up and just catapulted us into the 21st century."

The tribe also took to Twitter to say:

To which Musk replied: "You're most welcome."

The Hoh Tribe and Starlink were partnered up by the Washington State Department of Commerce.

Posting on social media the department said: "How is this for a creative partnership? SpaceX and Hoh Tribe prove we can overcome the digital divide.

"This is one example of projects we're working on to bring high-speed internet access to everyone in Washington state. Working together we can make it happen!"

You can find out more about the times, dates and how to spot the satellites on findstarlink.com.

Topics: Interesting, Technology, UK

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]

@ClaireReid19