A mysterious blue spiral with its UFO-like appearance traveling across the night sky of New Zealand has baffled onlookers. Despite the initial belief that it came from outer space with an extraterrestrial origin, experts said it could be traced closer to Earth.
The spiraling blue plume of gas over the city of Nelson on the south island of New Zealand was said to have traveled 466 miles (750 kilometers) south to Stewart Island by 7:30 pm Sunday, MailOnline reported.
What Was That Mysterious Blue Spiral?
It turns out that the bizarre astronomical phenomenon was caused by man-made space junk. It was a dying rocket from SpaceX's latest rocket mission.
Elon Musk's space company launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Globalstar DM15 satellite on Sunday morning, marking the third rocket flight that happened in just 36 hours. According to a similar report from Magazine Bulletin, the rocket spun when it released the payload and vented fuel that caused a vapor trail that reflected the sunlight. It created a visible blue swirl that amazed many people.
The New Plymouth Astronomical Society wrote in a Facebook post that the fuel dump or exhaust plume from the SpaceX rocket was the most likely reason for the blue swirl. The post added that similar events have happened in the past, and it just so happens that SpaceX's Globalstar 2 FM15 likely passed New Zealand around that time.
Alasdair Burns, a stargazer from South Island, said that the blue spiral was the strangest thing he had ever seen. It was absolutely bizarre and serenely moving north across the night sky, then slowly dissipated.
For some, it looked like a planet or star with a tiny white dot at the center. The blue spiral traversed New Zealand's night sky within 10 minutes and had grown at least three times in size.
Third Falcon 9 Rocket Launch in 36 Hours
On Sunday, a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 12:27 am EDT, carrying the Globalstar DM15 satellites to be sent to orbit.
According to Space.com, the rocket's first stage came back to Earth for a vertical landing on the SpaceX droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean 10 minutes after it took off. SpaceX tweeted that the satellite was deployed to low-Earth orbit 1 hour and 50 minutes after the launch.
The mission was the third flight for SpaceX within 36 hours, including the 53 Starlink satellites launched on Friday, June 17, and the radar satellite for the German military from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Saturday, June 18.
SpaceX's mission last Friday was a new rocket reuse record after flying Falcon 9, which had a record of 12 launches for its first stage under its belt. Meanwhile, Sunday's flight for the first stage was the ninth for Falcon 9.
SpaceX has been boosting its rocket launches this year. The most recent flight was the 26th flight for SpaceX this year, and 2022 is not even half over yet.
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