This is why you might have seen dozens of UFOs pass over Yorkshire this week

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This week, dozens of people have reported seeing a string of UFOs passing over Yorkshire.

Dozens of the "aircrafts" have been spotted in the sky at a time, with reported sightings across the UK and Europe.

One woman reported seeing a "long line" of the unidentified objects over her Wakefield home.

In a desperate attempt to explain the mysterious appearances, social media has suggested military drones, alien invasions and even a late-flying Father Christmas.

But what are the mysterious objects, and why are they passing over?

In reality, the objects are a string of satellites launched by American aerospace manufacturer SpaceX.

Known as Starlink, the satellites are part of an effort to "deploy the world's most advanced broadband internet system", according to their website.

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Launched in November, the Starlink satellites orbit the Earth, and have been spotted passing over the UK several times in the last few days, with sightings Wakefield, London, Birmingham and Paris.

There are a total of 60 satellites, most of which appear to pass over in a straight line.

SpaceX was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk, who is also the CEO of energy company Tesla.

The Starlink website reads: "SpaceX is leveraging its experience in building rockets and spacecraft to deploy the world's most advanced broadband internet system.

"With performance that far surpasses that of traditional satellite internet, and a global network unbounded by ground infrastructure limitations, Starlink will deliver high speed broadband internet to locations where access has been unreliable, expensive, or completely unavailable.

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"Starlink is targeting service in the Northern U.S. and Canada in 2020, rapidly expanding to near global coverage of the populated world by 2021."