SpaceX wraps up Starlink launches for January 2024

Successful Starlink launches in January 2024

Starlink Group 7-12: January 28, 2024, 9:57 p.m. PST (5:57 UTC on January 29)
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, California | SUCCESS

Starlink Group 6-38: January 28, 2024, 8:10 p.m. EST (1:10 UTC on January 29)
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Kennedy Space Center, Florida | SUCCESS

Starlink Group 7-11: January 23, 2024, 4:35 p.m. PST (0:35 UTC on January 24)
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, California | SUCCESS

Starlink Group 6-37: January 14, 2024, 8:52 p.m. EST (1:52 UTC on January 15)
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | SUCCESS

Starlink Group 7-10: January 14, 2024, 12:59 a.m. PST (8:59 UTC)
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, California | SUCCESS

Starlink Group 6-35: January 7, 2024, 5:35 p.m. EST (22:35 UTC)
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | SUCCESS

Starlink Group 7-9: January 2, 2024, 7:44 p.m. PST (3:44 UTC on January 3)
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, California | SUCCESS

You can watch recorded livestreams 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 January 2024, Starlink consists of over 5,250 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 have the potential to interfere with the professional astronomical observations that have brought 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 seventh and final Starlink launch for the month took flight from California at 9:57 p.m. PST on January 28, 2024 (5:57 UTC on January 29).

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

Via Space Launch Schedule