they learned a lot about how to build rockets that blow up in a field I guess.

Hopefully they learned how to build rockets that don't blow up in a field too!

twitter.com/89Marvaz/status/1196356715270291456

how many SpaceX satellites can you see?

@uhoh, before I start counting, let me ask a question. Why two satellites near the top left corner travel in nearly parallel lines instead of coincident lines? Or would you like to answer this as an "answer" on SE?

They have the same inclination right?

@Intellex consider the following; 1) the image is taken from the surface of the Earth, not the center of the Earth 2) the satellites are not overhead, 3) they need to spread out in order to be distributed uniformly around their orbit, and to do so they need to be at different altitudes, 4) when deployed, they are each given a gentle nudge in a different direction

So while they probably all have approximately the same inclination, it may not be exact. Also, they may be at different elevations and seen from an angle they might not appear colinear.

@uhoh, +1 Excellent! Thanks :)

They will be the same inclination (Basically), but will not be quite in the same orbital plane. I think it is the argument of the perigee that changes, something like that...

@Intellex I'm no expert on this, and there may be a better explanation or at least better-written explanation out there just waiting to be told. I've just enumerated some possibilities. I think it's a great question and worth asking/posting because answers will be of value to other readers as well.