String Of Lights Flying Over Pacific Northwest Spark UFO Questions

A string of strange lights flew over the Pacific Northwest Tuesday night (May 4), prompting many of its residents to wonder about what they are.

Many people, from Seattle to Portland, flocked to social media to share photos and videos of the dazzling phenomenon. Users as far north as Vancouver, Canada were capturing the incident. The most popular suggestion was a line of UFOs skirting across the night sky. One person even suggested if it was a formation of planes flying by.

"Did anybody else just see this pass through the sky at a measured pace in Portland Oregon? Looked like 20 jetliners all in formation," one user wrote. One person even wondered if it was "a secret black budget government craft."

Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Center of Astrophysics, has an answer to everyone's burning question.

"60 Starlink satellites were launched from Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday afternoon. On their 7th orbit of the Earth they passed southeast over Seattle and central Idaho, at around 9.20-9.30pm Pacific Daylight Time, along the track shown here," he wrote above a map on Twitter.

Starlink is an internet satellite constellation created by Elon Musk's SpaceX. These satellites orbit Earth provide broadband access in conjunction with a ground transceiver.

"So if you live in that area and saw a 'string-of-pearls' in the sky around that time, that was the Starlink sats, still close together after being deployed from the Falcon 9 rocket," McDowell said.

Regardless of what the lights were, Pacific Northwest people were treated to quite a beautiful sight.

Photo: Getty Images