What are the strange lights seen in Ratnagiri?

The lights were visible for around 10-15 seconds around 6.30-7.30 pm

Mysterious train of lights spotted in the sky above Sangameshwar town in Ratnagiri a few days ago have surprised many as they had never seen anything like this before. There have been several speculations, including that the lights could be UFOs, comets, shooting stars. But could it be that the train of lights were the Starlink satellites of Elon Musk's SpaceX? While it is unsure whether it was a satellite or something else, people interested in space science are curious to know what exactly the lights travelling in upwards direction are.

On Monday, Kaushal Dubey along with his friends were sitting on a hillock close to village Chikhali-Dhanawde Wadi near Sangameshwar in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra when he spotted something unusual. "I was sitting on a hillock along with three friends and between 6.30 pm-7.30 pm we saw something in the sky that I had never seen before. We noticed a straight train of light moving upward. First we thought that it was shooting stars, UFOs, comets etc., but the lights that we saw in the sky were moving up in a straight line. It will be interesting to know what exactly it was" Dubey said.

Dubey's friend Prabhu Swami, who also witnessed this rare event, told mid-day, "I have seen shooting stars several times but what I saw in the sky on Monday night was something that I have never witnessed. We saw around 15-20 lights going upward in a straight line for 10-15 seconds before the lights vanished." In the first week of December mysterious lights were seen in the sky over north India and later pictures and videos about the same had gone on social media. Later it was confirmed that it was Elon Musk's Starlink Satellite Train. On December 20, similar lights were also spotted in Udupi-Mangalore.

According to news reports, SpaceX, the company owned by Elon Musk, had launched 52 Starlink satellites from its base in California recently. It is said that this is the 11th launch. It has been reported that Starlink now has nearly 2,000 satellites in lower Earth orbit. According to the SpaceX website, "STARLINK MISSION: On December 18 at 4.41 am PST, Falcon 9 launched 52 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, completing the 11th launch and landing of an orbital class rocket booster. The Falcon 9 first stage booster has launched Dragon's first crew demonstration mission, the RADARSAT Constellation Mission, SXM-7, and now 8 Starlink missions."

Dec 20
Day when similar lights were spotted in Udupi-Mangalore