A mysterious streak of lights dazzled the night sky over parts of Oregon and Washington, leaving stargazers wondering what the unusual sighting might be.
After some people speculated that it was a meteor shower, the National Weather Service said it was more likely to be debris from a SpaceX rocket “that did not successfully have a deorbit burn.”
A deorbit burn takes place when a spaceship fires its engine before re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere.
Social media users in Seattle and Portland saw the spectacular display over the Pacific Northwest sky as the debris reentered orbit at around 9 p.m. PT.
The National Weather Service (NWS) of Seattle identified the bright lights as debris from a Falcon 9 second stage. The NWS noted that the speed of such debris re-entry is much slower than that of meteor showers, which move at speeds greater than 45,000 mph.
Such re-entries are generally safe, with all rocket components and material burning up in the atmosphere. As Seattle’s NWS tweeted: “There are NO expected impacts on the ground in our region at this time.”
Right now, it seems like the only lasting effect will be a lot of fantastic footage like the video below:
