AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) – When locals around Amarillo and the High Plains region look up past the broad horizons at night, they usually expect to see the vast arrays of stars that have inspired and guided humans since they first glanced skyward.

However, they might also see a string of lights speeding across the speckled night sky that can feel out of place during an otherwise routine bout of stargazing.

When these lights are spotted, some turn to neighbors or social media with questions and speculation about what they saw. If it wasn’t part of a meteor shower, was it aliens?

No. Don’t worry, it wasn’t aliens. Instead, the strings of lights sometimes seen over the High Plains are connected to SpaceX’s Starlink satellites.

Starlink, which launched in 2019, consists of thousands of satellites that are orbiting about 342 miles above Earth, as noted on space.com. The light these satellites give off is reflected from the sun as they trail along working to provide broadband internet access around the world. As noted by FCC filings, Starlink even has a ground station established in Dumas.

Astronomers have reported over the last few years that Starlink’s satellites and their light have caused issues, including ruining images taken by telescopes and otherwise contributing to light pollution, such as in a 2020 report from the United Nations. While SpaceX and the US National Science Foundation entered an agreement in 2023 to try to work on mitigating some of the negative impacts of Starlink, the full scope of their efforts and their effectiveness remains to be seen.

Still, for now, the satellites are often easy to spot when they travel over the High Plains region. There are also ways to track them and know when they’ll be most visible, such as through the interactive map on Satellitemap.space that shows the location of each Starlink satellite grouping. Findstarlink.com allows users to see when the satellites will be visible from specific locations.

When can you see Starlink?

Below is a list of “good visibility” or “average visibility” timings to see Starlink around the Amarillo and High Plains area from findstarlink.com for the week of Aug. 7, 2023.

Amarillo, Texas

• Monday, Sept. 18, at around 9:08 p.m. CDT (Good)
• Tuesday, Sept. 19, at around 9:07 p.m. CDT (Good)
• Wednesday, Sept. 20, at around 9:05 p.m. CDT (Good)
• Thursday, Sept. 21, at around 9 p.m. CDT (Good)

Clovis, New Mexico

• Monday, Sept. 18, at around 8:08 p.m. MDT (Good)
• Tuesday, Sept. 19, at around 8:07 p.m. MDT (Good)
• Wednesday, Sept. 20, at around 8:05 p.m. MDT (Good)
• Thursday, Sept. 21, at around 8 p.m. MDT (Good)

Hereford, Texas

• Monday, Sept. 18, at around 9:08 p.m. CDT (Good)
• Tuesday, Sept. 19, at around 9:07 p.m. CDT (Good)
• Wednesday, Sept. 20, at around 9:05 p.m. CDT (Good)
• Thursday, Sept. 21, at around 9 p.m. CDT (Good)

Liberal, Kansas

• Monday, Sept. 18, at around 9:07 p.m. CDT (Good)
• Tuesday, Sept. 19, at around 9:07 p.m. CDT (Good)
• Wednesday, Sept. 20, at around 9:05 p.m. CDT (Good)