Did you see flashings lights over Sussex last night? This is what it could have been

There are various reports of a cluster of lights travelling from south to north across the sky at about 9pm in the evening.

One reader from Mid Sussex also spotted the unusual phenomenon and thought it could be aliens.

They said, “I opened my front door to see as many as 30 to 40 celestial objects (satellites?) flying in linear formation in the direction SSW to NNE and roughly 10 seconds apart.

“It took approximately 10 minutes for them all to pass by. Often see the odd satellite passing overhead but never as many all together in one go.

“Has anyone any idea what they might have been or what they were doing?”

Coronavirus: Latest figures announced for East and West Sussex

Paul Glover also saw them from his home in Broadwater, Worthing, from between 9pm-9.30pm.

But he has researched the incident and believes they were SpaceX Starlink satellites, the internet project launched by Elon Musk.

He said, “I went out to my back garden which faces South to have a smoke and it was a nice clear sky.

“I was looking at the stars and then saw a row of seven lights moving from the south west to the north east, they were in a straight line formation.

“After a minute or two some more came from the same direction, I counted 20 all together.

“I think in time there is going to be at least 500 of these satellites going around.”

The Starlink project, which to date has 358 satellites in orbit of the Earth, aims to provide low-cost internet to remote locations.

Did you see them? Email [email protected]

A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton:

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.