There is a perfectly good explanation for a row of bright lights spotted in and around Edmonton over the weekend, according to scientist and Telus World of Science CEO Alan Nursall.
“None of these things are UFOs. They’re all identified,” explained Nursall.
According to Nursall, two events are going on that are catching the eyes of Edmontonians.
The first is the line of lights. It was observed to the west and could be seen moving across the sky.
Nursall said the sight was several satellites currently in orbit on a route that passes over Alberta.
Billionaire Elon Musk’s company Space X launched 60 satellites in November as part of an ongoing plan to put up 12,000 dishes to provide widespread, high-speed internet.
The group is called Starlink and is expected to be visible over Alberta again this week as long as the skies are clear.
- Enter at your own risk: New home security camera aims paintballs at intruders
- High benzene levels detected near Ontario First Nation for weeks, residents report sickness
- Beijing orders Apple to pull WhatsApp, Threads from its China app store
- Boston Dynamics unveils ‘creepy’ new fully electric humanoid robot
The second event is an alignment of the moon and Venus.
“The moon moves in the sky a lot faster than Venus, so last night, the moon was a little bit to the east of Venus,” explained Nursall. “In fact, if you hold up your fist, that’s roughly the distance that Venus was separated by the moon. Tonight, it will be two fists.”
Photos of that phenomenon were easier to capture and showed the crescent moon aligned with the so-called evening star.
“Whenever the full moon is happening or whatever, I always try to catch something, and because I’m a born-and-raised Edmontonian, I like to support Edmonton and try to promote it,” said photographer Keith Moore.
Moore posted a photo of the moon and Venus over the city, receiving more than 850 likes on Twitter in just a few days.
Both out of this world events are common but Nursall believes the timing of them is what captivated onlookers.
“It’s hard to miss and it’s right around dinner time too. Sun is setting around 4:30 p.m., so right when people are getting home and looking up at the western sky and they’re seeing this beautiful little crescent moon and this incredibly bright glowing dot,” Nursall told Global News.
The distance between Venus and the moon is increasing each night but scientists say onlookers will get another chance to see it fairly soon.
Comments