That mysterious streak of light that appeared in the sky over the Western U.S. earlier this week was the debris from a Chinese rocket that was launched last month, one expert says.
The event in question occurred Wednesday, July 27, evening when witnesses saw a glowing trail fly over Nevada, Utah and across California, leaving them to wonder what exactly that streak of light was. Some assumed it was a fireball or burning satellite, while others, taking into account that its appearance coincided with the Delta Aquarid meteor shower, assumed that it was a meteor or meteor shower.
Full video of meteor-like event @BadAstronomer pic.twitter.com/q37UzRZKpa
— Matt Holt (@mholt6) July 27, 2016
However, Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass., says that it was none of the above — not even the likely meteor. Instead of a meteor or meteor shower like so many had presumed, he says that streak of light was the debris from a Chinese rocket that had reentered the atmosphere.
China launched the Long March 7 from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on June 25. The undertaking was a monumental step for China's space program, as it was both the newest and most powerful launch vehicle to date, capable of placing about 13.5 metric tons into low orbit, and powered by liquid oxygen and kerosene propellants — two fuels that were more environmentally-friendly than others that China had used in the past.
According to McDowell, the rocket spent a month in low orbit before reentering the atmosphere at about 18,000 mph around 9:40 p.m. over Utah, where it was viewed about 50 miles overhead.
How can he be so sure that the meteor-like event was caused by a rocket and not an actual meteor? As stated before, the event did line up with the Delta Aquarid meteor shower, which usually peaks about July 28 or 29. Because the properties of what was viewed in the sky that night don't match what's typically seen with meteors.
McDowell stated that meteors usually move faster than what was seen on Wednesday, and they don't carry a trail of debris. Similarly, the American Meteorological Society said these meteors usually lack "persistent trains and fireballs."
It should be noted, however, that, while this event certainly captured the attention of those lucky enough to witness it, incidents like this are actually quite common. The issue in the vast majority of those cases, however, is that they are usually seen in overpopulated areas.
One instance when something like this was seen, though, was back in 2015, when debris from a Russian rocket that was reentering Earth's atmosphere lit up the skies across the Western U.S.
