DORSET residents were spooked to see lights in the sky on Sunday night (October 22) – but fear not, we are not being invaded by aliens.

The UFOs were spotted over Blandford, Sherborne, Upton in Purbeck, and more, prompting a flurry of social media posts asking whether we had finally heard from ET and his friends.

“Anyone see the string of lights moving over Blandford a few moments ago?” wrote one person on Facebook.

“Silent, moving in a southerly direction, thought they my might be Chinese lanterns or something, straight line though and then faded out.

“No idea how far up or what speed they were travelling.”

The Starlink satellites over Sherborne on Sunday evening
However, it has since been confirmed the lights – which appeared in a regimented line formation in the night skies before disappearing – were not aliens, but satellites sent up by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company.

SpaceX said a rocket had launched two missions on Saturday (October 21), launching Starlink satellites, which provide high-speed broadband around the world.

The lights spotted on Sunday night would have been satellites from the first launch, which happened at around 8.23am on Saturday morning, from the Vandenberg Space Force Base, in California, USA.

A total of 21 Starlink internet staellites were launched, which can then appear in night skies around the world as they reach their orbits.

A further 23 were then sent up later the same day, at around 2.17am our time.

Lights over Upton, Purbeck, on Sunday night