Fast-moving lights have been spotted in the sky above Wagga, prompting some to ask whether the city is about to become the site of first contact.
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Unidentified flying objects (UFOs) are a common sight in Australian skies, with thousands of reports made every year.
Contrary to popular belief, this does not necessarily mean we are about to encounter alien life. UFO, or unidentified aerial phenomenon, can be used to describe anything spotted in the sky that can not be easily identified.
Wagga's latest UFO sighting took place around 5am on July 27.
A reader sent The Daily Advertiser pictures of what appears to be a series of lights tearing across the sky in a straight line.
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Local astronomer Michael Maher said he had received a lot of calls about similar objects recently.
"I think we've got Elon Musk to thank for that," he said.
"They're all moving steady with one another. The camera has quickly taken a photo, but because it's taken a few seconds, they've moved that distance - that's why they're elongated.
"Elon Musk is putting up this string of low earth orbit satellites at the moment as part of some internet thing."
![Lights spotted in the sky above Wagga around 5am on July 27 have been identified as a satellite. Picture supplied Lights spotted in the sky above Wagga around 5am on July 27 have been identified as a satellite. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/200569959/1cdc949f-1092-4b87-93b3-7a2941b83a39.JPG/r0_337_1170_1289_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Growing numbers of low earth orbit satellites (LEOs) are being launched every year, largely for communication purposes.
These provide narrower coverage, but greater bandwidth and faster speeds than satellites orbiting at 2000km altitude or greater.
At the start of 2022, the total number of active LEOs was around 3000.
By early 2023, American satellite and spacecraft company Space X had nearly this many, with plans to launch another 40,000 in the coming years for use in its Starlink internet service.
Mr Maher said given how popular LEOs have become, he's expecting more calls about UFOs.
"They move in these big strings, like you can see - there's going to be heaps more of them," he said.
"I'm really not sure how many of these damn things are going to be up there. If you're going to use LEOs, you need a lot of them.
"How they plan to use them, I really don't know ... but I think it's going to be crowded up there."
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