Star Tribune
See a string of lights in the Minnesota night sky? Here’s what it is.
It’s a specific, unsettling feeling that comes when you look up at the night sky and see a train of bright lights speeding across the heavens.
When it happens, people often wonder if it’s a sign of UFO activity — like one person last week who saw a video of the phenomenon in the west metro.
“Anyone else see the UFO a bit ago? Got this video sent to me from someone going west on Highway 212 between Eden Prairie and Chanhassen. He says it was a line of lights that disappeared,” a post on X said.
The line of bright lights isn’t a sign of life from some unknown planet; they are satellites from Starlink, the internet service from SpaceX.
“It’s the craziest thing, if you didn’t know what it was,” said Peter Peterson, an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Minnesota Duluth, who uses Starlink for home internet. “It looks like 60 stars in a conga line, basically moving really fast.”
Satellite internet is nothing new. But older players in satellite internet use geostationary satellites, which are positioned about 22,000 miles over earth and always orbit over the same patch of the planet, Peterson said.
Starlink satellites orbit about 342 miles above earth, Peterson said. That means faster internet because the signal has to travel a fraction as far. But it also requires a lot more satellites, because there always needs to be one overhead to ensure service.
The first Starlink satellites launched in 2019. Since then, it’s become fairly common to see them marching across the sky, and it likely will become more common as Starlink expands and as competitors potentially enter the market. Astronomer Jonathan McDowell,who tracks SpaceX launches, estimates more than 5,500 Starlink satellites have launched. Consulting firm Deloitte predicts as many as 50,000 satellites could be in low orbit by 2030.
What you’re seeing when you spot a train of Starlink satellites in the sky is a recent launch, Peterson said. When the satellites are first launched from a rocket, they are close together and fairly bright. As they reach their intended orbit, they drift apart and appear to dim.
Astronomical concerns
They don’t dim completely, though, which is a concern for astronomers and others who are worried about dark skies.
“I can see them every night,” said Bob King, an amateur astronomer and columnist in Duluth who goes by Astro Bob. “When you’re looking at a galaxy, you want to see the spiral arms, and you want to see the details of nebula. And then here come a bunch of Starlinks, you know, like ‘pew pew laser coming through,’ and they’re very distracting.”
SpaceX has been responsive to some concerns, King said. A coating has been added that makes the satellites dimmer and they now tilt, reflecting less light.
“The problem is, is that there are just so many of them,” King said.
As people hope to see northern lights amid a peak solar storm cycle into next year, more may notice the launched satellites.
It’s not just an issue for amateurs, but also professionals who can edit out aberrations in their photos caused by Starlink, but may lose important data in their analysis by doing so, King said.
On the aggregate level, so many satellites may cause light pollution in the sky that could affect an astronomer’s ability to see.
Jessica Heim, a Central Minnesota resident, said she has been involved in many discussions with the International Astronomical Union about the effect of satellites on astronomy.
Heim, a PhD student in cultural astronomy at the University of Southern Queensland, said the sheer number of satellites also raises questions about people’s relationship with the night sky.
Across human history, the night sky has played a huge role in everything from navigation to timekeeping to culture, Heim said.
These days, many people already live in places where they can’t see the Milky Way because of ground-based light pollution sources — something that diminishes the human connection with the night sky, Heim said. You can generally escape light pollution in a remote place like the Boundary Waters or Antarctica, but you couldn’t escape satellites.
“Even if you go out someplace that has a clear sky and you can see that … how do the satellites change that?” she said.
To learn when Starlink satellites are visible in your area, visit https://findstarlink.com/.
Northern State 35, Concordia (St. Paul) 34: Wyatt Block’s 2-yard TD run and the PAT with 10 seconds remaining lifted the Wolves past the host Golden Bears. Block’s touchdown capped an 11-play, 72-yard drive by the Wolves, who trailed 24-7 in the second quarter. Jeff Isotalo-McGuire’s 34-yard field goal with three minutes, 32 seconds remaining gave the Golden Bears a 34-28 lead.
Winona State 31, Bemidji State 28: Cade Stenstrom rushed for two TDs and passed for 150 yards and a TD to help the host Warriors outlast the Beavers. Stenstrom’s 1-yard TD run and the PAT with two minutes, 10 seconds remaining gave the Warriors a 31-21 lead. The Beavers responded with an 11-play, 93-yard drive to pull within 31-28 with 18 seconds remaining but the Warriors recovered the ensuing kickoff.
Div. I-AA
North Dakota State 59, Murray State 6: The top-ranked Bison built a 42-3 lead in the first half and went on to defeat the host Racers in Murray, Ken. CharMar Brown ran for 97 yards and three TDs for the Bison.
South Dakota State 20, South Dakota 17 (OT): Amar Johnson’s 3-yard TD run in overtime lifted the host Jackrabbits to the victory. The Coyotes opened the OT with a 40-yard field goal.
Youngstown State 41, North Dakota 40 (OT): The host Penguins went first in OT and scored and then stopped North Dakota’s two-point conversion to hold on for the victory. The Penguins sent the game into OT on a 35-yard field goal with 12 seconds remaining.
Div. III
Augsburg 35, St. Olaf 34 (OT): The host Auggies stopped a two-point conversion in overtime to outlast the Oles. The Auggies went first in the overtime and scored on a 25-yard pass from Ryan Harvey to Tyrone Wilson. It was Harvey’s fifth TD pass — the fourth to Wilson. After the Auggies’ PAT, the Oles scored on a 25-yard TD pass from Theo Doran to Braden Menz. But the Oles’ pass attempt for the conversion failed.
After splitting their two-game West Coast trip to begin the season, the Wolves improved to 2-1 with a 112-101 win over Toronto in their home opener. It was a wire-to-wire win that featured some strong bursts of play from the Wolves and other times when their decision-making was suspect. But those moments when they were on, specifically the start of the game and most of the third quarter, were enough to carry them against a shorthanded Raptors team that was without RJ Barrett, Bruce Brown and Immanuel Quickley.
Julius Randle had 24 points while Anthony Edwards had 24 on 21 shot attempts. Donte DiVincenzo had 16 off the bench. Nickeil Alexander-Walker left the game in the fourth quarter and did not return, though he was in the bench area for the final minutes after going to the locker room briefly.
The Wolves’ starting lineup had its best stretch of basketball on the season after that unit started off sluggish in the first two games. Mike Conley, who was 3-for-16 to open the year, hit two early threes to set the tone, though Conley would finish 2-for-8.
Donte DiVincenzo replaced him at point guard halfway through the quarter and continued the hot shooting from the point guard slot with three threes of his own. The Wolves forced five Toronto turnovers and had a 32-18 lead after one.
Coach Chris Finch toyed with some different lineup combinations in the first half as he had Conley and DiVincenzo begin the quarter together while having Joe Ingles run the point later in the quarter. It led to an uneven second, and the Wolves led 56-44 at halftime.
But the Wolves played inspired coming out of the break. Jaden McDaniels, who didn’t take a shot in the first half, had nine points in the opening minutes of the third. Edwards hit a pair of threes as they pushed their lead to 22. The Wolves weren’t sharp closing the night, and the Raptors had the game within right inside of two minutes, but the Wolves had built enough of a cushion.
Rudy Gobert. Gobert had 15 points and 13 rebounds and was the beneficiary of some lobs from his teammates like Edwards, Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Joe Ingles. Gobert also finished with four blocks.
Gobert had two blocks on one possession in the fourth quarter that got the crowd off its feet and Gobert pounding his chest. Gobert blocked D.J. Carton and Jamison Battle.
Star Tribune
Trump denigrates Detroit while appealing for votes in a suburb of Michigan’s largest city
NOVI, Mich. — Donald Trump further denigrated Detroit while appealing for votes Saturday in a suburb of the largest city in swing state Michigan.
”I think Detroit and some of our areas makes us a developing nation,” the former president told supporters in Novi. He said people want him to say Detroit is ”great,” but he thinks it ”needs help.”
The Republican nominee for the White House had told an economic group in Detroit earlier this month that the ”whole country will end up being like Detroit” if Democrat Kamala Harris wins the presidency. That comment drew harsh criticism from Democrats who praised the city for its recent drop in crime and growing population.
Trump’s stop in Novi, after an event Friday night in Traverse City, is a sign of Michigan’s importance in the tight race. Harris is scheduled for a rally in Kalamazoo later Saturday with former first lady Michelle Obama on the first day that early in-person voting becomes available across Michigan. More than 1.4 million ballots have already been submitted, representing 20% of registered voters. Trump won the state in 2016, but Democrat Joe Biden carried it four years later.
Michigan is home to major car companies and the nation’s largest concentration of members of the United Auto Workers. It also has a significant Arab American population, and many have been frustrated by the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza after the attack by Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
During his rally, Trump spotlighted local Muslim and Arab American leaders who joined him on stage. These voters ”could turn the election one way or the other,” Trump said, adding that he was banking on ”overwhelming support” from those voters in Michigan.
“When President Trump was president, it was peace,” said one of those leaders, Mayor Bill Bazzi of Dearborn Heights. ”We didn’t have any issues. There was no wars.”
While Trump is trying to capitalize on the community’s frustration with the Democratic administration, he has a history of policies hostile to this group, including a travel ban targeting Muslim countries while in office and a pledge to expand it to include refugees from Gaza if he wins on Nov. 5.
