SpaceX's growing 'megaconstellation' of Starlink satellites got even bigger this afternoon, with the launch of 60 more satellites.

Elon Musk's space firm launched its seventeenth batch of Starlink satellites on board a Falcon 9 rocket at 08:03 EDT (13:03 GMT) today.

The launch brings the number of Starlink satellites in orbit to around 950.

The Starlink constellation is designed to provide a low-latency, broadband internet system to meet the needs of consumers across the globe.

However, astronomers have raised concerns about the mission, and claim the satellites are so bright that they've affected a number of astronomical observations.

In response, SpaceX has started adding a dark sunshade to some of the Starlink satellites to make them less visible in the night sky. 

The launch was initially scheduled to take place on January 18, but was pushed back due to poor weather conditions.

It took place from Nasa's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, and was streamed live on SpaceX's YouTube channel here.

SpaceX said: 'SpaceX is targeting Wednesday, January 20 for its seventeenth Starlink mission, which will launch 60 Starlink satellites from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center. The instantaneous window is at 8:02 a.m. EST, or 13:02 UTC.'