A streak of light in the night sky over much of the Pacific Northwest on Thursday sparked a lot of speculation among Earthlings. It seems that its origin was apparently very earthy: space debris re-entering the atmosphere.
As CBS Portland, Oregon-affiliated KOIN-TV said, “Was it a meteorite? A space junk? Aliens? Probably not. … Whatever it was, it lit up the night sky over Oregon just after 9 p.m. 00 … posts on social media.
“The view was summarized by @kaallori:” Meteor? I don’t know what it was, but it was spectacular. “
KIRO-TV, affiliated with CBS Seattle, said it first appeared as a meteor shower.
But KIRO chief meteorologist Morgan Palmer said: “The relatively slow speed of separation seems to me to be probably a satellite, a part of the rocket, a space debris, something like parting on re-entry. Something in Earth’s orbit. Meteors would generally move much faster as they burn. But we will see! “
Andrew Dassonville, @theandrewda, captured her over St. Helens, Oregon, near Portland:
Spectators called KIRO to report what they saw. They also called the National Meteorological Service.
The Seattle service office then posted the likely explanation on Twitter, saying, “While we await further confirmation of the details, here is the unofficial information we have so far. The bright objects reported in the sky were the remains of a second-stage Falcon 9 rocket that did not have a successful burn. “
Astronomer Jonathan McDowell wrote on Twitter that it was from a March 4 SpaceX launches Starlink satellites.
Jim Todd, of the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland, told KOIN that it’s quite interesting that so many people have seen him. “Everyone in the Pacific Northwest had to see it,” he said.
It is not certain if any of the remains reached the ground. “Could there be debris? Of course. But it was burning.”
KIRO reported that meteorological service officials said they had not heard of any impact in western Washington.