The sky in California, United States, was lit up by falling space debris, which was picked up by residents last Sunday (19). The debris caught fire as it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere.
The wreckage was part of a communications antenna that was disposed of by the International Space Station a little over a year ago, in February 2022. They have been circling the Earth since then and fell again on Sunday. Residents were stunned by the bright lights captured in the video, which went viral.
to the New York Times, Jaime Hernandez, who photographed the lights, said he was at a party with friends when they noticed the bright spots in the sky. He stated that the phenomenon lasted about 40 seconds, and despite the shock, everyone was “astonished”.
The Times also reported that the astronomer Jonathan McDowellHe stated, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, that he was 99% confident that the lights were indeed space junk that ignited upon re-entry into the atmosphere.
Also according to McDowell, the communications equipment was from Japan and was launched in 2009 during a space shuttle mission and retired in 2017 after satellite operations ended.
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