A Chinese satellite exploded over New Orleans as it reentered the atmosphere on Saturday night.
The stunning display was also visible in parts of Mississippi, Arkansas, and Missouri.
Huge fireball over South Mississippi and Louisiana last night. pic.twitter.com/7RNPtO0tYw
— HardWorkingMan (@Gary122474) December 22, 2024
Most witnesses described it as looking like a shooting star.
The satellite appeared to split off into a cluster of fireballs as it plummeted towards the earth.
This happened last night in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. They’re saying it’s a “fireball.” pic.twitter.com/buxHp72qpm
— SULLY (@SULLY10X) December 22, 2024
Massive fireball spotted streaking across US skies — and it came from China pic.twitter.com/VCWjk9uCWc
— New York Post (@nypost) December 22, 2024
Used for imaging, the satellite reportedly belonged to the Beijing-based company SpaceView.
Astronomer Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics wrote in a post on X:
“The commercial imaging satellite 高景一号02星 (GaoJing 1-02, Superview 1-02), operated by Beijing-based SpaceView (北京航天世景信息技术有限公司) reentered above New Orleans at 0408 UTC Dec 22 (10.08 pm CST Dec 21) heading northbound towards MS, AR, MO and was widely observed.”
The commercial imaging satellite 高景一号02星 (GaoJing 1-02, Superview 1-02), operated by Beijing-based SpaceView (北京航天世景信息技术有限公司) reentered above New Orleans at 0408 UTC Dec 22 (10.08 pm CST Dec 21) heading northbound towards MS, AR, MO and was widely observed pic.twitter.com/GqbwpsAdb8
— Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) December 22, 2024
Many doubted the satellite’s identification, citing the strange drones that have been flying over New Jersey and much of the East Coast.
The New York Post reports:
Most of these completely disintegrate well before they reach the ground, and most pieces that remain intact land in the ocean.
There are around 30,000 pieces of floating space junk larger than a softball, and roughly 1,000 of those are as large as a spacecraft, NOAA said.
NASA keeps tabs on space junk with a Space Surveillance Network that uses a combination of space and ground-based equipment.
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