The misty blue lights looked like they were small galaxy It will form in the sky – note the New Zealanders who noticed the rare appearance of the shape on Sunday evening.
The bizarre scene flooded social media as people searched for an explanation as to what caused the circular lights.
There is a logical explanation
Soon after, the source of the vision is revealed: a SpaceX rocket that had run out of fuel shortly after launch. Locals in Queenstown, Auckland and Motueka posted the images on Twitter and Facebook asking if anyone knew what it could be. in the sky Visible strange phenomenon. It was reported to be brighter in some parts of the Pacific Ocean, but the vortex was also seen in Fiji, Samoa, New Caledonia and the small island of Tokelau.
It looks like a rocket is spinning out of control
he wrote, commenting on Facebook. Local astronomy groups enthusiastically share photos from around the island on social media.
To quell the curiosity of locals, the country’s New Plymouth Astronomical Society confirmed that the celestial phenomenon was not suspicious extraterrestrial activity, but SpaceX A phenomenon caused by human activity after a missile launch.
“The spiral seen in the sky around 8:30 this evening was most likely a fuel release or exhaust cloud from a SpaceX rocket launch,” they wrote in their Facebook post.
He added that similar effects had been seen before, and SpaceX’s Globalstar 2 FM15 likely passed New Zealand around this time.
This was confirmed by SpaceX, which carried out three successful Falcon 9 launches over the weekend, sending a total of 55 satellites into space.
