Strange glowing lights spotted in the sky over Almaty

Tengrinews.kz – A chain of bright objects lined up in a perfectly straight line was seen in the sky over Almaty. Tengrinews.kz asked scientists what this phenomenon was.

What happened

Readers sent a video to our editorial WhatsApp number, filmed in Almaty. The author recorded it on the evening of 22 February. According to him, at about 7:16 PM something suddenly appeared in the sky that looked like a glowing dotted line rapidly moving upward. The footage shows lights moving strictly one after another, keeping the same distance.

Social media users reacted almost immediately to the unusual glow in the sky. Some joked about an alien invasion and “signs from above,” while others immediately started checking SpaceX launch schedules. For the record, similar sightings often trigger false reports of unidentified flying objects around the world.

What the Fesenkov Institute said

We requested a comment from the Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute. They reported that no glowing objects over Almaty were observed that night at the FAI observatories, but specialists do have a hypothesis.

“According to the institute’s experts, no entry of satellites or their fragments into the Earth’s atmosphere was forecast for the indicated period. The most likely explanation for the luminous objects recorded over the city of Almaty is the passage of a group of Starlink-type satellites,” the institute noted.

This is not the first such case for Almaty. Local residents filmed a similar video in January 2025. At that time, city dwellers also observed a perfect line of dots, which the world has nicknamed the “Starlink train.”

Such chains are usually visible right after the latest batch of satellites is launched, before they disperse into their orbits and while they are still at low altitude. They fly as a tight group in low orbit and reflect sunlight with their panels. Over time, the spacecraft reach their operational altitude (around 550 kilometres), spread out, and become almost invisible to the naked eye.

If you see something similar, you can verify it using special services such as Find Starlink or stargazing apps (Star Walk, Stellarium). It is enough to enter your coordinates, and the system will show whether Elon Musk’s satellites were passing over your location at a given minute.