If you saw a line of bright dots moving together across the sky — like a "string of pearls" or a "train of lights" — you almost certainly saw a Starlink train. These spectacular formations appear after every SpaceX Starlink launch.
SpaceX launches new Starlink batches every few days in 2026 — typically 2–4 days between launches. In the first 1–5 days after launch, the satellites fly in a tight formation that's visible to the naked eye during twilight. Trains only exist for about a week — but because launches are so frequent, a fresh train is visible somewhere in the world almost every week. Our tracker automatically detects trains overhead and shows you exactly where to look with plain-English directions.
Starlink trains are one of the most commonly Googled sky phenomena. They're harmless, temporary, and genuinely impressive to see — 20 to 60 satellites gliding silently across the sky in a perfect line.
🚂 CHECK FOR TRAINS NOWAlmost certainly a Starlink train. SpaceX launches 20-60 Starlink internet satellites at a time. For the first few days, they orbit close together in a visible line. They look like a string of pearls or a train of dots moving silently across the sky.
During twilight — 30-60 minutes after sunset or before sunrise. Trains are most visible 1-3 days after a SpaceX launch, before the satellites raise their orbits and spread apart. After about a week, the train disappears.
Individual Starlinks are around magnitude 3–6 after launch — visible to the naked eye but not spectacular on their own. What makes a train attention-grabbing is the pattern: 20–60 evenly-spaced dots moving silently in a perfect line. The collective effect is far more striking than the per-satellite brightness suggests. Fresh trains during the first 1–3 days are the brightest, because satellites are still in their low deployment orbit (~300km). As they raise to 550km over the following weeks they dim further. Starlinks are noticeably fainter than the ISS (magnitude −5) or Venus, but easier to spot because of the formation.
Every 2–4 days in 2026. SpaceX is launching Falcon 9 at a pace of nearly once per 2.5 days, and the majority of those are Starlink missions. The constellation passed 10,000 operational satellites in early 2026 and is still growing. A train is visible for about 5 days after each launch, so fresh Starlink trains appear somewhere in the world almost every week.
No — they're completely normal commercial satellites providing internet service. The "train" formation is temporary and lasts only a few days.
After launch, each satellite uses its ion thruster to slowly raise its orbit from about 300km to 550km. As they climb, they spread apart until the train is no longer visible as a formation.
The most dramatic train phase lasts 5–10 days after launch. Within the first 48 hours the satellites are tightest together and brightest. Over the following week they gradually spread into their operational orbits and become individual, much fainter satellites. After about 2 weeks they're indistinguishable from the rest of the constellation.
A line of 20+ evenly-spaced bright lights moving silently across the sky looks unlike anything most people have seen before. Social media fills with UFO reports within hours of every Starlink launch. OrbitalNodes shows recent launches so you can check if a Starlink train is the explanation for what you saw.
SpaceX has filed to launch 1 million orbital data centre satellites. OrbitalSolar.ai has the full story →