Starlink Satellites Spotted Over Southern Maryland
GREAT MILLS, Md. — A string of Starlink satellites was spotted moving across the night sky over Southern Maryland on Sunday, Feb. 16, at approximately 7 p.m.
A team member of The BayNet observed the satellites in Great Mills, describing the sight as unusual. “It looked like they were going up, and then they disappeared or turned off,” they said.
Starlink, a satellite network developed by SpaceX, aims to provide low-cost internet to remote locations. The network consists of thousands of small satellites, orbiting approximately 342 miles above Earth, which often create a striking visual display. The satellites can appear as a string of bright lights moving in a formation across the sky, sometimes leading to confusion among observers.
According to SpaceX, Starlink differs from traditional satellite internet services by operating in low Earth orbit. “Most satellite internet services come from single geostationary satellites that orbit the planet at 35,786 km. As a result, the round-trip data time between the user and satellite—also known as latency—is high, making it nearly impossible to support streaming, online gaming, video calls, or other high data rate activities,” the company states on its website.
“Starlink is a constellation of thousands of satellites that orbit the planet much closer to Earth, at about 550 km, and cover the entire globe. Because Starlink satellites are in a low orbit, latency is significantly lower—around 25 ms vs 600+ ms.”
Each Starlink satellite has an estimated lifespan of five years, and SpaceX eventually hopes to deploy as many as 42,000 satellites in what is known as a “megaconstellation.”
Observers do not need special equipment to view Starlink satellites, as they are visible to the naked eye, particularly in the days following their launch. As they ascend to their final orbital height, they become less noticeable.
For those interested in tracking Starlink satellites in real time, third-party websites like Satellite Map provide viewing information, though they are not affiliated with SpaceX or Starlink.
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