I've never been lucky enough to see a UFO in the sky. I don't think I really want to, but it would be really cool to see if it was actually aliens visiting planet earth. I got the answer to the question "how would I feel if I saw a UFO?" the other night when my wife, baby, and I were coming home from dinner. Needless to say, I had a lot of chills and was in awe at the thought until I researched what was moving across the Quad Cities night sky.

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UFO Sightings In Iowa & Illinois

There hasn't been any confirmation by the U.S. government that aliens from other planets have visited our home planet (not that they would confirm that), but people still believe to see UFOs every year. In Iowa, there have been 18 reports of UFO sightings so far in 2022. In Illinois, 58 UFO sightings occurred in 2022 so far. You can see Quad-City UFO sightings here.

When Did I See These "UFOs" Over Iowa?

On Monday, September 26th, my wife, daughter, and I were coming home from looking for formula at several different grocery stores in the Quad Cities (we didn't find the kind we need for our baby). We got home around 8:15 p.m. when my wife said, "oh my god, Connor, what is that in the sky?" I was too busy checking the mail and thinking of other things which made her yell "Connor! Look at that!"

I looked up towards the northwest and immediately pulled out my phone and saw this:

Connor Kenney/Townsquare Media Quad Cities
Connor Kenney/Townsquare Media Quad Cities
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This picture is blurry because of the one stupid street light that's in the most inconvenient spot, but as you can see in the photo below, there is a long line of small lights moving across the night sky all perfectly in a row.

Connor Kenney/Townsquare Media Quad Cities
Connor Kenney/Townsquare Media Quad Cities
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I've never seen this before, I didn't hear of any meteor showers, satellites crashing, nothing. I kept filming until they disappeared behind my neighbor's tree where I could barely see them anymore. If I would have been out in the country, I could have kept filming for a while.

After I stopped filming, I instantly went to Google to find out what these lights were. Spoiler alert: It wasn't aliens.

Were They UFOs? Unfortunately, no.

The lines in the sky that gave me chills because I thought aliens were coming to invade or something horrific happened turned out to be satellites. Not just any satellites, Elon Musk's satellites which are named the Starlink satellites.

What Are Starlink Satellites?

This is what Wikipedia says about Starlink satellites,

"Starlink is a satellite internet constellation operated by SpaceX, providing satellite Internet access coverage to 40 countries. It also aims for global mobile phone service after 2023. SpaceX started launching Starlink satellites in 2019. As of September 2022, Starlink consists of over 3,000 mass-produced small satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO),which communicate with designated ground transceivers. In total, nearly 12,000 satellites are planned to be deployed, with a possible later extension to 42,000. Starlink provides internet access to over 500,000 subscribers as of June 2022."

In short, I watched the internet go across the sky. But I wasn't the only one who saw them Monday night. Another person on the other side of Iowa in Omaha, NE also took some cool photos of Starlink passing over.

It was a really cool thing to see, I just wish I knew more about Elon Musk putting creepy things in the sky.

Check out the video of my wife and I being very confused of what we thought were UFOs doing a synchronized swim routine in space over Iowa, below:

Quad City Haunted Houses

Spooky season is here Quad Cities! Haunted houses are open and we know you want to get your scare on. We have the full list of Quad City haunted houses you need to visit before Halloween.

Quad City Pumpkin Patches

It's pumpkin pickin' time in the Quad Cities. Pumpkins make great fall decorations and they are obviously fun to carve. If buying a pumpkin at a store doesn't cut it and you want the full experience of a pumpkin patch, we have the full list of pumpkin patches throughout the Quad Cities. If we are missing any local pumpkin patches, email us here.

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