Falcon 9 Rocket Debris Creates Light Show Over Pacific Northwest Sky

Pacific Northwest residents were treated to a light show on Thursday when a fiery ball of light streaked across the night sky. Astronomer Jonathan McDowell from the Center for Astrophysics said that the streak of lights came from the Falcon 9 rocket debris that was launched by SpaceX on March 4 and failed to make a deorbit.

The American Meteor Society and the National Weather Service in Portland said that they have received "a lot of reports" of a bright fiery object streaking across Oregon and the Washington State on March 25 just after 9 pm.
The NWS retweeted McDowell's tweet saying that they have seen the videos and that it seems that the latter's theory fits the bill. As of the moment, SpaceX has not yet given a statement about this matter.

(Photo: YouTube)
A streak of lights over Pacific Northwest was Falcon 9 rocket debris Screenshot from YouTube/ King 5

Falcon 9 Rocket's Incomplete Deorbit Burn

McDowell said on his Twitter post that the Falcon 9 rocket "failed to make a deorbit burn" which reentered the Earth's atmosphere after 22 days in orbit, and that is why it created a light show over the night sky of the Pacific Northwest that was witnessed by many residents, 13 News Now reported.

Similarly, the University of Washington astronomy research assistant professor Dr. James Davenport told KING 5 that the streak of lights was the debris of Falcon 9 coming down from the orbit.

"And so it's been waiting to fall for the last three weeks and we got lucky and [it] came right over our heads," he added.

Based on the videos shared online, the streak of lights was moving slowly across the night sky, slower than the meteors that would come down to Earth at a speed of 160,000 miles (257,500 km) per hour.

According to EarthSky, the debris was very slow that it was sailing by only 17,000 miles (27,30 km) per hour, just about the region of the Earth's atmosphere where aircraft fly.

Since it was too slow, several people were able to use their phones to take photos and videos of the event that resulted in numerous social media posts with some saying that it was meteors falling. But of course, experts have said otherwise.

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No Property Damage

People from the Oregon Coast, Salem, the Portland area, Southwest Washington, and the Seattle area reported seeing the streak of lights with some even claiming to hear explosions in the sky as the light show continued.

McDowell labeled the sighting as "space junk" and said that this reentry of debris was the 14th piece that has re-entered the atmosphere, "with a mass over one tonne that has reentered since Jan 1st this year."

But since the debris of the Falcon 9 was sailing just above the layer of the Earth's atmosphere where aircraft fly, it did not cause much trouble to any aircraft flying at that time. Also, ABC 7 NY said that there were no reports of damage due to the falling Falcon 9 rocket debris or other impacts to the ground.
Below are some of the videos of the light show last Thursday:

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