SpaceX Starlink: How to see the satellites in New York, London, and Paris

Starlink, SpaceX's internet connectivity constellation, is about to make its way across the night sky. The event is set to provide Earthlings with a glimpse of the satellites making their way across the sky.

The company's satellites are designed to provide high-speed, low-latency internet. The goal is to beat existing satellite constellations on these metrics by orbiting at a much lower altitude of around 550 kilometers. This also means SpaceX plans to launch a large number of satellites into the sky: it's launched 597 satellites in total, and it's applied for permission to launch a total of 42,000. At the start of 2019, there were only around 5,000 satellites in the sky in total.

This week, satellites that launched as part of the ninth and 10th batches are expected to be visible from parts of Europe and North America. These batches launched on June 13 and August 7 respectively. Each batch contains around 60 satellites.

The website FindStarlink has kept track of these more recent batches and will continue to document their movements as they spread. Older batches are not tracked as they are harder to spot, given they have had enough time to spread out.

The satellites may be visible, but this actually a cause of concern among astronomers because of their effect on celestial visibility. SpaceX has been working with groups like the American Astronomical Society to develop adjustments to its satellites. Unfortunately, as it will take a few months to see whether certain adjustments were successful, changing the satellites has been a slow process.

That means, for now, these early batches are still relatively visible in the sky. To catch a glimpse of this constellation taking shape, as SpaceX starts rolling out its beta test, here's where to look for the brightest satellites:

SpaceX Starlink: When and how to see from New York

• Saturday, August 15, 5:08 a.m. Eastern time: The satellites should be visible for six minutes. Look from northwest to southeast.

SpaceX Starlink: When and how to see from London

• Tuesday, August 11, 2:50 a.m. British Summertime: The satellites should be visible for three minutes. Look from north to east.
• Tuesday, August 11, 4:23 a.m. British Summertime: The satellites should be visible for six minutes. Look from west to east.
• Wednesday, August 12, 3:29 a.m. British Summertime: The satellites should be visible for five minutes. Look from north to east.
• Wednesday, August 12, 5:04 a.m. British Summertime: The satellites should be visible for six minutes. Look from west to southeast.
• Thursday, August 13, 2:36 a.m. British Summertime: The satellites should be visible for two minutes. Look from northeast to east.
• Thursday, August 13, 4:09 a.m. British Summertime: The satellites should be visible for six minutes. Look from west to east.
• Friday, August 14, 3:15 a.m. British Summertime: The satellites should be visible for four minutes. Look from northwest to east.
• Friday, August 14, 4:49 a.m. British Summertime: The satellites should be visible for six minutes. Look from west to southeast.
• Saturday, August 15, 3:54 a.m. British Summertime: The satellites should be visible for five minutes. Look from west to southeast.

SpaceX Starlink: When and how to see from Paris

• Thursday, August 13, 5:09 a.m. Central European time: The satellites should be visible for six minutes. Look from northwest to east.
• Friday, August 14, 5:50 a.m. Central European time: The satellites should be visible for six minutes. Look from west to southeast.
• Saturday, August 15, 4:54 a.m. Central European time: The satellites should be visible for six minutes. Look from northwest to east.