Once relegated to the fringes of tinfoil hat-wearing society, UFOs have been catapulted into the mainstream discourse after a series of high-profile shootdowns, the most recent one occurring right here in Ontario on Sunday afternoon.

So people were naturally a bit on edge Sunday evening when a train of mysterious lights was spotted moving across the night sky over much of Ontario, including Toronto.

The linear path of glittering lights moving quickly across the sky may have looked like something "unidentified" to the untrained eye, but those in the know were quick to point out that this was, in fact, a "satellite constellation" in orbit as part of the Starlink program from controversial billionaire Elon Musk.

A @SpaceX Starlink train flew over southern Ontario 🇨🇦 this evening @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/ws001hsc9X

— Drive Tesla 🇨🇦 (@DriveTeslaca) February 13, 2023

The increasingly alt-right Time Magazine cover boy behind Tesla, SpaceX, and now Twitter is permanently altering night skies across the world with thousands of his Starlink satellites.

Also saw (over Brampton Ontario Canada) can confirm Starlink pic.twitter.com/0HRReo6ljC

— Michael 🇨🇦 (@OriginalSteak) February 13, 2023

Launched in linear clusters that operate in low-earth orbit, these strips of light appear bright and fast-moving compared to objects travelling in higher orbits.

StarLink over ontario 7:40 Pm pic.twitter.com/8TK120FXnv

— 🪬ÐOGE1🪬 (@Diegoal46564697) February 13, 2023

In 2021, Hanno Rein, Astrophysics Professor at the University of Toronto and developer of the Exoplanet app, told blogTO that "of all the operational satellites orbiting the earth, half belong to Starlink," and that was just in the project's earliest stages.

Once all is said and done, there will be an unprecedented 42,000 Starlink satellites orbiting the globe.

SpaceX Starlink satellites seen traveling over Hiroshima, Japan 😳
Credit: @dfuji1 pic.twitter.com/R77Hs8a8TQ

— Amazing Astronomy (@MAstronomers) February 12, 2023

Rein explained that these satellites will be in their highest concentrations along a latitude that includes southern Canada, saying that Toronto sits on the "worst-affected latitude in the world."

If you think Sunday night's show in the sky was prominent. Just wait for the summer. Rein explained that "because we're so far north, during the summer, these satellites will be illuminated all night long."

Similar sightings were reported along the satellites' path through the skies, including videos emerging from Ohio and Michigan.