Sydneysiders panic after seeing 'UFOs' over the harbour city - but there's a simple explanation for the bizarre sight
- NSW residents were baffled by string of bright lights in the early morning sky
- Some took to social media or called radio stations to share what they saw
- Some speculated they were seeing UFO's but there was a simple explanation
Stunned locals have spotted a series of unidentified flying objects over the skies of Sydney.
The spectators, who lived from the NSW south coast to Sydney, reported seeing the strange lights during the early hours of Wednesday morning.
They residents said they weren't sure what they'd seen but some speculated it might have been satellites or even a UFO.
But the sighting was later put down to Elon Musk's recent Starlink satellite constellation launch by SpaceX.
New South Wales residents were baffled after seeing bright lights (pictured) streaking through the early morning sky with many thinking they were seeing a UFO
It was the aerospace company's 100th successful launch and its 11th as part of the Starlink mission to create a global high-speed internet service.
One NSW resident told 2GB's Ben Fordham Live the objects looked like they were 'marching through the sky'.
'It looked like a slow-moving line of satellites or something else. It was very odd,' another caller said.
One caller said the strange lights looked like they were 'the width of a full moon'.
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Another caller said he thought he was looking at a space station.
'I thought it was a space station, I thought the sun was hitting on it but then it was moving a lot slower than the space station usually does,' he said.
Meanwhile others joked it was aliens but after seeing the state of Earth in 2020 they decided to go home.
The lights could also be seen in England where Keith Mayoh managed to get footage before posting it to Twitter.
'In (the) garden about an hour ago and saw an object floating across the sky west>east. Too slow for a plane, no sound, sun glimmered off it,' he wrote.
However what people were actually seeing was the most recent Starlink satellite constellation launch by Elon Musk's SpaceX (pictured)
'Could be a weather balloon def (sic) not a kid's balloon but looked oblong. Seemed to slow down at one point.'
Space expert Dr Brad Tucker told The Daily Telegraph satellites can only be seen from Earth two hours before sunrise and two hours after sunset.
'It doesn't happen that often, people usually see them a lot when they're first launched. The lower they start and the closer to earth, the brighter they are' he said.
'Australia usually is usually in a good position for sightings when the launch is in Florida because of the movement of the planet. We are usually among the first to see them.'
After the successful launch all 58 Starlink satellites will now slowly disburse and join the more than 600 others already in orbit.
More Starlink launches are expected and the next one has been tentatively scheduled for on or after October 23.
SpaceX plans to launch at least 2,200 satellites over the next five years in order to offer a global broadband service covering even the most remote areas of the world.
Deployed all at once, the 58 Starlink satellites will now slowly disburse and join the more than 600 others already in orbit as part of a plan to create a global high-speed internet service
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