A “train” of 19 Starlink satellites currently visible in the Cotentin sky

If you observed the ciel looking for shooting stars in the Night from Saturday 2 to Sunday 3 August 2025 in the North Cotentin (Manche), maybe you saw this straight line composed of 19 light points go north.

That night, at 11:49 p.m., a “Train” of 19 satellites indeed appeared above our heads, near the constellation of the Big Dipper.

Requested, the astronomical group of Querqueville (QAG) confirms and explains this “current” but “spectacular” passage :

It is indeed a train of 19 starlink satellites of the group 13-4. It was initially launched on July 30, but it was delayed due to sending a mission to the international space station. This train was therefore launched on July 31 at 6.35 p.m. UTC [20 h 35 heure de Paris, NDLR]from the Vandenberg base in California, with a Falcon 9.

Once launched “in packets”, these latest generation satellites can put “several days, or even several weeks”, before joining their final position. Hence their arrangement in the form of a straight line, or train, kept for a while.

“They are used in principle to feed the regions of low latitude, close to the polar circle,” continues the Gaq. To give an order of magnitude, it is estimated that a little more than 7,000 of these satellites are currently active and that there are more or less launches every month. It is therefore very common to see them in the sky. As for this particular train, satellites have not yet distanced themselves from each other. This gives fairly spectacular observations. The more we go away from the day and the hour of their launch, the more they will take distance from each other, until they reach their orbit. »»

Elon Musk satellites dedicated to telecommunications

As explained on his website: “Starlink is a Internet supplier by satellite which allows access to Low latency broadband In distant and rural places around the world. This satellite internet project is carried out by the company Space X of the American billionaire Elon Musk.

These satellites have good blanket and work very well. We know that there is an in progress experiment so that they can establish direct communications with a smartphone. It can be really interesting to have internet access at sea or in areas less covered by fiber or other.

See you this Sunday evening, at midnight

If you missed the “train” of satellites that night, there is a luck to see him again in the Night from Sunday 3 to Monday August 4… If the weather permits. “The conditions will be less good than the previous night, with clouds,” says the Gaq, “but it will appear at 0:02, still in a southern north axis and towards the large bear. Between the 14th^e and the 15th^eyou can also see the structure that takes them. »»

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