Starlink satellites appear in Southeast Michigan sky

Strange line of lights have SE Michigan sky watchers abuzz

Reports from all over came in tonight of a long line of lights were seen Thursday before 10 p.m.

(FOX 2) - First the U.S. shoots down a strange "object" over the Great Lakes, and now a string of lights are seen flying across the sky.

What gives?

There's still many questions that remain over what the military was targeted when it downed an unidentified flying object floating 20,000 feet above Lake Huron. But as to the second query: those aren't aliens. Instead, they're low-orbiting satellites.

Spotted over Southeast Michigan Sunday night, the satellites are part of Starlink's network of satellites, a company owned by Elon Musk.

Starlink satellites number at around 10 or so objects that move in a line across the sky. Their appearance frequently stirs concern in the wake of other objects appearing in the sky.

According to the website Findstarlink.com, the most recent Starlink satellite to move through Metro Detroit's sky was around 7:37 p.m. Sunday night.

What is Starlink?

Musk, ever the aspiring inventor, has deployed a plan to bring high speed broadband internet to the world. Using his company SpaceX, Musk has plans to launch around 12,000 Starlink satellites over the next few years.

The sudden surge of new satellite launches - about 600 a year - could be contributed to an increase in UFO sightings recently.

While an audacious plan, Musk has already gotten permission to fly 12,000 satellites, and perhaps as much as 30,000 in the future.

MORE: Unidentified object shot down over Lake Huron -- Everything we know about it

The satellites orbit at about 340 miles above the surface.