The Outagamie County Sheriff’s office told residents of Appleton, a city just north of Lake Winnebago, to avoid calling the police when a train of lights appears in the night sky because they’re just satellites.
“We have seen a lot of questions about the long strings of lights appearing in the night sky lately. These lights are satellites, and are part of a new internet service called, Starlink. Starlink provides internet to rural and typically hard-to-service areas,” Outagamie County Sheriff Facebook post read.
The post continued: “There is no concern to the publics safety and we ask that you please do not call the Outagamie County Communications Center – 911 about them.”
The Facebook post was likely prompted by an uptick in 911 calls when a train of Starlink satellites illuminate the night sky that may frighten some people into believing an alien invasion is imminent.
Starlink satellites are providing internet to rural America and are reportedly faster than land-based internet. But with the Starlinks so bright, it hasn’t just frightened some people but also become an optical nuisance to astronomers.
Over the next few years, SpaceX plans to launch at least 12,000 Starlink satellites. The increase of UFO sightings could due to Starlink satellites gliding through low Earth orbit at thousands of miles per hour.
Here’s footage of Starlink satellites over the skies of Mississauga, a city neighboring Toronto on Lake Ontario.
To the average person unfamiliar with Starlink could easily mistake the satellites for an alien invasion and warrant a 911 call.
