Meteor shower confirmed as spacecraft debris
There was plenty speculation about what the flaming, floating particles were, from meteor showers to a shooting star.
Many people along the South Coast took to social media last week Saturday night after spotting a strange occurrence in the sky.
There was plenty speculation about what the flaming, floating particles were from meteor showers to a shooting star.
On the more humorous side, some residents went as far as joking that it was Santa Claus making an appearance.
Social media was flooded with videos and pictures of the bright orange trail of lights later that evening.
While videos and pictures do not do the sight justice, those who managed to witness it themselves that evening described it as spectacular.
However, experts have confirmed that it was most likely not a meteor shower.
Professor Tim Cooper of the Astronomical Society of South Africa explained that the assumed ‘meteor shower’ was actually the re-entry of a rocket from a spacecraft that was moving towards the International Space Station (ISS).
PHOTO: PAUL MUNDEL/FACEBOOK.
“It was not a meteor shower, but the re-entry into the atmosphere of spacecraft debris,” Cooper said.
He further added that it was probably the re-entry of the SL-4 rocket booster from the Roscosmos Soyuz 2.1a rocket which launched the latest cosmonauts to the ISS.
“The lights had nothing to do with a comet, asteroid, meteor stream or the Geminids as posted variously elsewhere,” Cooper concluded.
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