Upcoming Starlink launches in January 2024
Starlink Group 7-9: January 2, 2024, 6:31 p.m. – 10:13 p.m. PST (2:31 – 6:13 UTC on January 3).
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Vandenberg House Pressure Base, California | GO FOR LAUNCH.
You possibly can watch a recorded livestream of the Starlink launches on SpaceX’s X account.
Precise launch occasions are nonetheless pending for Starlink launches within the second half of the month. Watch this space for updates!
The 2024 lunar calendars are here! Makes a great New Years gift. Check ’em out here.
After launch, search for a practice of lights
Following each Starlink launch, the web buzzes with folks asking:
What’s that lengthy line of lights within the sky that appears like a practice?
What you’re seeing is the Starlink satellites shifting into a better orbit. You possibly can test to see if they may cross over your space utilizing the Find Starlink website.
Rising numbers amid controversy
In line with Wikipedia, as of November 2023, Starlink consists of over 5,500 mass-produced small satellites in low Earth orbit that talk with designated floor transceivers. They supply web entry to greater than 2 million subscribers.
Love ’em or hate ’em, these Starlink satellites are a part of SpaceX’s imaginative and prescient for a world web communication satellite constellation. They ship high-speed web service worldwide, primarily to places the place ground-based web is unreliable, unavailable, or costly. The personal firm is well-known for launching batches back-to-back, a number of occasions a month, recurrently lofting 60 satellites at a time. And SpaceX plans to construct as much as maybe as many as 30,000 finally.
Most thought it was thrilling to see the primary few Starlink satellites touring collectively within the night time sky. However then extra have been launched, after which extra. And astronomers started to fret.
As a result of Starlinks are brilliant, astronomers say they’re photobombing astronomical photos. Subsequently, they’ve the potential to intrude with the skilled astronomical observations which have introduced us our modern-day view of the cosmos. And though SpaceX has tried to deal with the difficulty, they continue to be removed from what astronomers say is appropriate.
Backside line: SpaceX presently has one Starlink launch deliberate for the month of January 2024.
Read more from EarthSky: Starlink satellites can look like a plume or train of light
