Was it a meteor? A broken-up satellite? Maybe a UFO? Leave it to an astronomer to identify what caused the light show that was visible over a wide stretch of the Pacific Northwest around 9 p.m. PT tonight.
Jonathan McDowell, an expert satellite-tracker at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, quickly figured out that the meteoric display was actually the breakup of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stage, left over from a launch that took place more than three weeks ago.
“The Falcon 9 second stage from the Mar 4 Starlink launch failed to make a deorbit burn and is now re-entering after 22 days in orbit,” McDowell tweeted.
It’s fitting that the re-entry of a rocket stage from a Starlink satellite launch provided a moment of marvelment from Seattle to Portland and beyond. After all, those satellites are manufactured at SpaceX’s facility in Redmond, Wash., and it’s conceivable that members of the Starlink team caught the show.
Not long after the orbital debris burned up — harmlessly, by all appearances — the internet was burning up with photos and videos of the fireworks show. Here’s a selection of imagery from Twitter and from GeekWire’s friends:
This is what I saw while walking my dog in #seattle https://t.co/Ux1GuOfQVx pic.twitter.com/GomCkl7XmN
— Cedric Padilla (@CedSaidZed) March 26, 2021
Shooting stars? Debris? Anyone else see this in Seattle just now? @KING5Seattle @komonews #UFOs pic.twitter.com/4cmHiYUptn
— Fred Lu (@fredlu_1618) March 26, 2021
who had Seattle of all places 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, but it was spectacular. @KATUNews @CNN @MSNBC @fox12weather @NBCNews pic.twitter.com/xNj5FsaSFt
— Krissy (@kaallori) March 26, 2021
#meteor Vancouver, Washington pic.twitter.com/WSWtuf4glW
— Adam Liechty (@AdamLiechty) March 26, 2021
Reddit user u/ArcMaster posted this incredible video of meteor/spacejunk tonight, visible across much of Oregon and Washington. The shockwave at final breakup was felt indoors. pic.twitter.com/qoxMWYy61G
— ㄥ卂ᐯ卂 ㄒㄩ乃乇 Ꮆㄖ乃ㄥ丨几 (@NullAdagio) March 26, 2021
Widespread reports of a #meteor or #space junk re-entering the atmosphere in the Pacific Northwest (#WA #OR #Seattle), so checked GOES-West and there *is* an interesting cloud that appeared recently. (upper left of this image) pic.twitter.com/JbSl9BoOgu
— AI6YR (@ai6yrham) March 26, 2021
Thread: Northwest meteor/meteorites sighting: Washington State/Oregon etc https://t.co/snOk1M4DkZ
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) March 26, 2021
"Elon what's happening," says the confused observer.
Little did he know, this was actually the second stage of one of @elonmusk's rockets. ???? https://t.co/UbCfVbaMd6
— Michael Baylor (@nextspaceflight) March 26, 2021
