A gust of light in the night sky over much of the Pacific Northwest sparked much speculation among Earthlings on Thursday. It turns out that its origin was apparently very earthly: space debris was re-entering the atmosphere.
As CBS Portland affiliate KOIN-TV in Oregon said, “Was it a meteor? Space junk? Aliens? Probably not. … Whatever it was, it lit up the night sky over Oregon shortly after the 9 at night … causing wonderful mouthfuls and many posts on social media.
“The view was summed up by @kaallori:” Meteor? I don’t know what that was, but it was spectacular. “
CBS Seattle subsidiary KIRO-TV said it looked like a meteor shower for the first time.
But KIRO chief meteorologist Morgan Palmer said: “The relatively slow speed of the rupture probably looks to me like a satellite, a part of the rocket, a space debris, something like the re-entry rupture. which was in Earth ‘s orbit. Meteorites generally move “much faster as they burn. But we’ll see! “
Andrew Dassonville, @theandrewda, captured her at St. Helens, Oregon, near Portland:
Viewers called KIRO to report what they were seeing. They also called the National Weather Service.
Then the Seattle service office tweeted about the likely explanation, saying, “While we await further confirmation of the details, here’s the unofficial information we have so far. The glowing objects in the sky are gone. widely reported were the remains of a Falcon 9 2nd stage rocket that has not had a debit burn. “
Astronomer Jonathan McDowell tweeted that it was one March 4: Launch of Starlink satellites by SpaceX.
Jim Todd, of the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland, told KOIN that it was quite exciting that so many people saw it. “Everyone in the Pacific Northwest could see him,” he said.
Not sure if any of the debris hit the ground. “Could there be remains? Certainly. But it was burning.”
KIRO reported that weather service officials said they had not heard of impacts in western Washington.