SpaceX wraps up Starlink launches for 2023

Successful Starlink launches in December 2023

Starlink Group 6-36: December 29, 2023, 7:01 a.m. EST
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Base, Florida | SUCCESS

Starlink Group 6-32: December 23, 2023, 12:33 a.m. EST
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Base, Florida | SUCCESS

Starlink Group 6-34: December 18, 2023, 11:01 p.m. EST
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Base, Florida | SUCCESS

Starlink Group 7-8: December 8, 2023, 12:03 a.m. PST
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, California | SUCCESS

Starlink Group 6-32: December 7, 2023, 12:07 a.m. EST
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Base, Florida | SUCCESS

Starlink Group 6-31: December 2, 2023, 11:00 p.m. EST
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Base, Florida | SUCCESS

You can watch a recorded livestream of the Starlink launches on SpaceX’s X account.

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After launch, look for a train of lights

Following every Starlink launch, the internet buzzes with people asking:

What’s that long line of lights in the sky that looks like a train?

What you’re seeing is the Starlink satellites moving into a higher orbit. You can check to see if they will pass over your area using the Find Starlink website.

Growing numbers amid controversy

According to Wikipedia, as of November 2023, Starlink consists of over 5,500 mass-produced small satellites in low Earth orbit that communicate with designated ground transceivers. They provide internet access to more than 2 million subscribers.

Love ’em or hate ’em, these Starlink satellites are part of SpaceX’s vision for a global internet communication satellite constellation. They deliver high-speed internet service worldwide, mainly to locations where ground-based internet is unreliable, unavailable, or expensive. The private company is well-known for launching batches back-to-back, several times a month, regularly lofting 60 satellites at a time. And SpaceX plans to build up to perhaps as many as 30,000 eventually.

Most thought it was exciting to see the first few Starlink satellites traveling together in the night sky. But then more were launched, and then more. And astronomers began to worry.

Because Starlinks are bright, astronomers say they’re photobombing astronomical images. Therefore, they interfere with the professional astronomical observations that bring us our modern-day view of the cosmos. And although SpaceX has tried to address the issue, they remain far from what astronomers say is acceptable.

Bottom line: SpaceX’s final Starlink launch for the year of 2023 successfully took flight on December 29.

Read more from EarthSky: Starlink satellites can look like a plume or train of light

Via Space Launch Schedule