Montrealers gawk at mysterious light in night sky (psst, it's probably satellites)

Quebecers were left awestruck Friday night as many witnessed what appeared to be an illuminated line soaring through the night sky.

“Anybody know what this light could be?” wrote hockey player Max Talbot to social media late Friday night.

Attached was a grainy image of the flying shape – a line of light moving quickly through the night sky.

“Saw it in Lac St-Jean,” wrote a commenter, one of many reporting sightings near Montreal. “Saw the same thing from Terrebonne,” wrote another.

Along with similarly grainy images, several others chimed in online with theories behind the nighttime anomaly, joking that aliens were piloting the line. Other comparisons ranged from classic arcade games to Darth Vadar’s lightsaber.

But what was it, for real?

According to space columnist Andrew Fazekas -- AKA the Night Sky Guy -- the likely answer is that the line of light was made up of several satellites launched by American space company SpaceX.

"Basically, what we're seeing is a chain of them. Remember, there was I think 53 satellites launched simultaneously on this one rocket. And so, once they're let go, in space, they are still clustered," he told CTV News. "They take up to a month for them to separate and reach their proper orbit."

From the ground, the satellites likely took on the appearance of a straight line because they were so far away, Fazekas hypothesized.

"It appears to the human eye as a single line travelling across the sky."

Findstarlink.com, a website that tracks the satellites' locations reported Starlink 55 would be visible in the Montreal area Friday evening. SpaceX launched several dozen units Friday afternoon.