What’s New
A fiery spectacle over the southeastern United States on Saturday night left observers puzzled, with many mistaking the fireball for the annual Ursid meteor shower.
Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics confirmed on X that the phenomenon was the uncontrolled reentry of a Chinese satellite, GaoJing 1-02.
Why It Matters
Social media filled up with posts showing the burning objects in the sky, from Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Tennessee, with users unsure what they were witnessing.
As humans launch more satellites into space, reentries are becoming more commonly observed. In November, observers saw a SpaceX satellite make a fiery return to Earth over Colorado, Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma.
Lyza C/The American Meteor Society
Image Credit: Lyza C via the American Meteor Society.
What to Know
People posted images and videos as they reported seeing the fiery debris, with many initially attributing the display to the Ursid meteor shower, which also peaked over the weekend.
The American Meteor Society received 120 reports of a “fireball” in the sky over several southeastern states on Saturday night.
McDowell wrote on X that the GaoJing 1-02 satellite, a commercial imaging spacecraft operated by Beijing-based Space View, reentered Earth’s atmosphere at 10:08 p.m. CST above New Orleans before traveling north over Mississippi, Arkansas and Missouri.
McDowell clarified that the satellite had been inactive since January 2023 and its reentry was uncontrolled, though its descent was predicted within a two-hour window.
The Ursid meteor shower occurs annually from December 17 to 26. This year it peaked on the night of December 21-22, the same night as the satellite reentry.
The Ursid meteor shower is caused by Earth passing through debris left behind by Comet 8P/Tuttle.
This periodic comet, discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1790 and later linked to Horace Tuttle’s 1858 observations, sheds particles that burn up in Earth’s atmosphere, creating meteors.
What People Are Saying
Several people posted video footage of the satellite, believing it to be a meteor or a meteor shower.
Zack Fradella, a meteorologist for Fox 8 New Orleans posted a video of the fiery display over south Louisiana to X, initially identifying it as a meteor, before clarifying that it was a satellite.
Another user @denied posted footage of the object on X, writing: “URSID meteor shower in Mississippi tonight.”
User @JamesJoiner_WX posted footage of the fiery object to X from Camden, Missouri, saying it was a meteor.
And @ElijahKellick posted a video from north Alabama to X, asking: “anyone know what this is?”
What Happens Next
The reentry of the Chinese satellite over the U.S. is a reminder of China’s recent growth into a global power in space, a development tracked in a recent Newsweek investigation.