Aliens? A meteor shower? Nope ... Spectacular sight in sky was earthly in origin
By
Brian Lada, AccuWeather meteorologist
Updated Mar 26, 2021 3:57 PM EDT
Residents in Salem, Oregon, reported seeing space debris racing across the night sky on March 25. National Weather Service officials believe the debris was from a Falcon 9 rocket.
It was a clear evening across the Pacific Northwest on Thursday when an array of lights streaked across the sky, creating a scene that almost looked like it was straight out of a science fiction movie.
At around 9 p.m. PDT, the illuminated objects slowly streaked across the skies over the region, leaving onlookers puzzled and amazed. This was not aliens or an astronomical event, such as a meteor shower or fireball, as many on social media speculated, but, rather, a human-created light show sparked by a rocket launch that took place weeks ago.
The cluster of glowing orange objects was made up of space debris that was breaking apart and burning up as it reentered Earth’s atmosphere.
People all across Oregon, Washington and southern British Columbia spotted the debris with the burning pieces flying high up in the atmosphere between Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, according to the American Meteor Society.
"It was scary and awesome at the same time," one person who witnessed the spectacle and caught video of it remarked on Twitter.
There are no expected impacts on the ground due to the falling space debris, which was part of a used SpaceX rocket, the National Weather Service Office in Seattle said.
Social media was flooded with photos and videos from people outside who were in awe of the sight. Some could be heard yelling with excitement as they watched in awe.
Pieces of an old SpaceX rocket burning up over Washington on March 25, 2021. (Twitter/ @WashingtonWAWX)
Thursday evening’s light show can be traced back to March 4, 2021, when SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket to deliver a new batch of Starlink satellites into orbit around the Earth, said Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer who tracks space launches and space activities.
This was the latest in a long line of missions by the company to establish a constellation of small communication satellites that will eventually be able to provide high-speed internet to every corner of the globe.
During a typical SpaceX rocket launch, the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket lands safely back on Earth where it can be used again for a future launch. Meanwhile, the second stage of the rocket continues to propel the payload into orbit.
After delivering the satellites to the intended orbit, the second stage of the rocket usually performs a deorbit burn that sends it back into the Earth’s atmosphere where it harmlessly burns up. However, during this particular mission, the second stage failed to perform this maneuver, so it slowly succumbed to Earth’s gravity over time, reentering 22 days after launch over the Pacific Northwest.
The debris flew harmlessly over the region, burning up around 40 miles above the Earth’s surface, well above the altitude that airplanes fly, according to McDowell.
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The amazing sight is not often witnessed by people as it was on Thursday evening, but similar events happen all around the globe on a fairly regular basis.
This was the 14th piece of space debris that had a mass of more than 1 ton that has reentered Earth’s atmosphere in 2021, McDowell said.
Those hoping to see a launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, either virtually or in person, will have to wait nearly a month before the next flight.
On April 22, SpaceX is set to launch a new crew of NASA astronauts to the space station, as well as astronauts from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the European Space Agency.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier, Spectrum, FuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios.
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News / Astronomy
Aliens? A meteor shower? Nope ... Spectacular sight in sky was earthly in origin
By Brian Lada, AccuWeather meteorologist
Updated Mar 26, 2021 3:57 PM EDT
Residents in Salem, Oregon, reported seeing space debris racing across the night sky on March 25. National Weather Service officials believe the debris was from a Falcon 9 rocket.
It was a clear evening across the Pacific Northwest on Thursday when an array of lights streaked across the sky, creating a scene that almost looked like it was straight out of a science fiction movie.
At around 9 p.m. PDT, the illuminated objects slowly streaked across the skies over the region, leaving onlookers puzzled and amazed. This was not aliens or an astronomical event, such as a meteor shower or fireball, as many on social media speculated, but, rather, a human-created light show sparked by a rocket launch that took place weeks ago.
The cluster of glowing orange objects was made up of space debris that was breaking apart and burning up as it reentered Earth’s atmosphere.
People all across Oregon, Washington and southern British Columbia spotted the debris with the burning pieces flying high up in the atmosphere between Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, according to the American Meteor Society.
"It was scary and awesome at the same time," one person who witnessed the spectacle and caught video of it remarked on Twitter.
There are no expected impacts on the ground due to the falling space debris, which was part of a used SpaceX rocket, the National Weather Service Office in Seattle said.
Social media was flooded with photos and videos from people outside who were in awe of the sight. Some could be heard yelling with excitement as they watched in awe.
Pieces of an old SpaceX rocket burning up over Washington on March 25, 2021. (Twitter/ @WashingtonWAWX)
Thursday evening’s light show can be traced back to March 4, 2021, when SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket to deliver a new batch of Starlink satellites into orbit around the Earth, said Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer who tracks space launches and space activities.
This was the latest in a long line of missions by the company to establish a constellation of small communication satellites that will eventually be able to provide high-speed internet to every corner of the globe.
During a typical SpaceX rocket launch, the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket lands safely back on Earth where it can be used again for a future launch. Meanwhile, the second stage of the rocket continues to propel the payload into orbit.
After delivering the satellites to the intended orbit, the second stage of the rocket usually performs a deorbit burn that sends it back into the Earth’s atmosphere where it harmlessly burns up. However, during this particular mission, the second stage failed to perform this maneuver, so it slowly succumbed to Earth’s gravity over time, reentering 22 days after launch over the Pacific Northwest.
The debris flew harmlessly over the region, burning up around 40 miles above the Earth’s surface, well above the altitude that airplanes fly, according to McDowell.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
The amazing sight is not often witnessed by people as it was on Thursday evening, but similar events happen all around the globe on a fairly regular basis.
This was the 14th piece of space debris that had a mass of more than 1 ton that has reentered Earth’s atmosphere in 2021, McDowell said.
Those hoping to see a launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, either virtually or in person, will have to wait nearly a month before the next flight.
On April 22, SpaceX is set to launch a new crew of NASA astronauts to the space station, as well as astronauts from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the European Space Agency.
Related:
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier, Spectrum, FuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios.
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