Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it’s Starlink – probably

Sightings of a ‘UFO’ over Cypriot skies over the weekend created a buzz, although Internet-savvy onlookers were quick to deduce the object was a Starlink satellite array in low Earth orbit.

The object was seen in Nicosia, as well as in Larnaca and near Paphos. It was also spotted in the north of the island, in the skies over Famagusta, and reported on by the Yeniduzen newspaper.

A member of the public who saw it on Saturday evening told the Cyprus Mail: “It was hovering, moving slowly, and then its ‘lights’ started going out one by one until it disappeared.”

He added with a mischievous wink: “It’s the aliens bro.”

A video of the object was uploaded to TikTok, see here:

In the comments section, one person posted:

“I saw that on the highway towards Paphos. Couldn’t believe my eyes. As I was watching and monitoring it closely, it started to fade away and disappear.”

Others said the object was also seen in Greece and Romania.

“Conspiracy theorists are gonna have a field day with this one,” another commented.

But the consensus converged on the object being Elon Musk’s Starlink programme.

Starlink is a satellite internet constellation operated by SpaceX, providing satellite Internet access coverage to 36 countries. SpaceX started launching Starlink satellites in 2019. According to Wikipedia, as of July 2022 Starlink consists of over 2,700 mass-produced small satellites in low Earth orbit which communicate with designated ground transceivers. Starlink provides internet access to over 400,000 subscribers as of May 2022.