String of mysterious lights over UP skies. What were they?

People in Lucknow and some other parts of Uttar Pradesh were perplexed on seeing the strange string of lights in sky.

Some thought it looked like the lights from the windows of a train as it cruised in a distance on a dark night. Some saw apocalyptic signs in them. Some suspected UFOs. And yet others, according to a TOI report, thought it was the souls of the dead departing earth and started offering prayers from their rooftop.

Some of those who captured the light train on their phones told the newpaper that there was terror and excitement among the villagers around 7.40 pm on Monday night. Similar visuals were captured in Hardoi, Kannauj and Kanpur as well.


The pictures were splashed over social media, and many started speculating on what they could be. Some said it could be due to refraction of light. The UFO theory found favour with others. One user tagged NASA, ISRO and SpaceX among others to ask what it was.

In the end it turned out to be nothing so mysterious. What those people saw was, according to the report, just a Starlink-51 satellite train.

On September 4, Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had sent up a space tug aloft along with another big batch of its Starlink internet satellites.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on the east coast of Florida, carrying 51 Starlink internet satellites to orbit.

SpaceX has already sent more than 3,000 Starlink satellites into orbit, in an effort to create a huge constellation for broadband service targeted for remote areas.

The company founded by Musk has also launched more than 25 Starlink-centric missions in 2022 already. The September 4 launch was SpaceX's 40th of the year and continued to add to the Starlink mega constellation of satellites.