Skilled skywatchers clear up Pacific Northwest’s meteor thriller

Was it a meteor? A broken-up satellite tv for pc? Possibly a UFO? Depart it to an astronomer to determine what brought on the sunshine present that was seen over a large stretch of the Pacific Northwest round 9 p.m. PT tonight.

Jonathan McDowell, an knowledgeable satellite-tracker on the Harvard-Smithsonian Heart for Astrophysics, rapidly found out that the meteoric show was truly the breakup of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stage, left over from a launch that came about greater than three weeks in the past.

“The Falcon 9 second stage from the Mar 4 Starlink launch did not make a deorbit burn and is now re-entering after 22 days in orbit,” McDowell tweeted.

It’s becoming that the re-entry of a rocket stage from a Starlink satellite tv for pc launch supplied a second of marvelment from Seattle to Portland and past. In spite of everything, these satellites are manufactured at SpaceX’s facility in Redmond, Wash., and it’s conceivable that members of the Starlink staff caught the present.

Not lengthy after the orbital particles burned up — harmlessly, by all appearances — the web was burning up with photographs and movies of the fireworks present. Right here’s a collection of imagery from Twitter and from GeekWire’s associates:

That is what I noticed whereas strolling my canine in #seattle https://t.co/Ux1GuOfQVx pic.twitter.com/GomCkl7XmN

— Cedric Padilla (@CedSaidZed) March 26, 2021

Taking pictures stars? Particles? Anybody else see this in Seattle simply now? @KING5Seattle @komonews #UFOs pic.twitter.com/4cmHiYUptn

— Fred Lu (@fredlu_1618) March 26, 2021

Hey @NASA what the heck simply occurred over the Seattle night time sky? pic.twitter.com/QZqSJrf937

— Eto (@EbertonPaul) March 26, 2021

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh pic.twitter.com/mJoFzeHv0r

— jv (@JoshVester) March 26, 2021

who had Seattle of all locations to reenact Cloverfield on their 2021 bingo card pic.twitter.com/7XLro3q3qq

— keith reynolds (@subtleBreaker) March 26, 2021

YO OREGON WHAT DID I JUST SEE @KATUNews pic.twitter.com/fgplrWtgha

— Ches Allen (@ChesAllenPDX) March 26, 2021

Meteor? I don’t know what that was, nevertheless it was spectacular. @KATUNews @CNN @MSNBC @fox12weather @NBCNews pic.twitter.com/xNj5FsaSFt

— Krissy (@kaallori) March 26, 2021

“Elon what’s taking place,” says the confused observer.

Little did he know, this was truly the second stage of one in every of @elonmusk‘s rockets. ???? https://t.co/UbCfVbaMd6

— Michael Baylor (@nextspaceflight) March 26, 2021