Wakefield, Tasman. Photo credit: Maddy Shallcrass
Stargazers from across the South Island reported seeing a swirl of light across the night sky this evening.
So what was it from?
At 12: 27 am (ET) on Sunday, Elon Musk-led SpaceX launched Globalstar FM15 to low earth orbit from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The communication satellite was attached to Falcon 9 rocket- a partially reusable rocket launcher manufactured by SpaceX.
As it enters space, it “cartwheels” as it releases fuel. It’s high enough that sunlight not blocked by Earth is then reflected by the fuel.
Similar lights were spotted over mid-Missouri in February. Meteorologist Zach Paul said “it was the spiral vapor trail from the orbital burn for COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation (CSG 2) satellite.”
“It made for a very cool spiral vapor trail/cloud that was illuminated by the sun high up in the atmosphere.”
Globalstar FM15 is a spare satellite that the US communications company is poised to add to its constellation of existing 24 low orbit satellites.
Jono Paul
