A spectacular spiral of blue light appeared in the skies of New Zealand and aroused hysteria

A terrifying-looking spiral spotted in the New Zealand night sky terrified fans of conspiracy theories, concluding that it was an alien invasion or a black hole that we would all soon be sucked into.

But then the real reason for this rare sight was revealed

Not to be missed

21/06/2022

Tuesday, 21 June 2022, 10:10

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SpaceX's first unmanned astronaut (Reuters) launch

New Zealanders were left confused by a very unusual sight in the country’s skies last Sunday: a strange, winding light configuration that looks like an entire galaxy.

Appeared suddenly around 7:25 p.m., Alsadir Burns, stargazing guide on Stuart Island, received a message from an author: "Get out and look at the sky."

He immediately did so and noticed what he said "completely freaked out" him.

He saw a huge blue light spiral in the darkness and already knew about the flood of speculation it would create.

"Once I got out, it was very clear what he meant," Burns told The Guardian.

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To the full article

This is how it looks

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Burns managed to take some pictures of the spectacular spiral on his cell phone and hurried to call his neighbors who would also get to see this rare sight: "I quickly knocked on all my neighbors' doors to get them out on the porch as well. We were about five people, we all stood on our shared porch looking up and just freaking out. We have some. "

Online groups of astronomers and astronomy enthusiasts in the country were flooded with people who shared photos of the phenomenon, which was seen from most of the southern island.

Theories abounded there - from IPOs to commercial light displays. One who noticed the blue spiral from the west coast of Tasman Bay wrote: "It happened around 7:28 pm - I saw it in the Motuka area.

זה עדיין זז לו". אחרת שיתפה תמונה וכתבה: "צולמה בקווינסטאון, ניו זילנד, לפני כ-30 דקות".

היו גם כמה שהשתעשעו בתגובות: "מתי נשאב לחור השחור שלנו?", שאל אחד בהומור ואחר הוסיף: "שוב החייזרים מתעסקים Us".

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So what was it?

"The reality is probably more prosaic," explained Professor Richard Easter, a physicist at the University of Auckland, who called the phenomenon "strange but easily explained."

He explained: "Clouds of this type sometimes occur when a rocket carries a satellite into orbit. When the propellant is ejected from behind, you have what is actually water and carbon dioxide - which briefly creates a cloud in space illuminated by the sun. The geometry of the satellite orbit and how we sit In relation to the sun - is the combination that was right to produce these crazy clouds that were seen from the southern island. "

Easter said the missile in question was apparently a Globalstar launch from Elon Musk's SpaceX, which the company sent to a low Earth orbit near Cape Canaveral, Florida on Sunday.

The new Plymouth astronomical association has confirmed that the sights have been observed in the past during SpaceX rocket launches.

SpaceX's Globalstar 2 FM15 passed New Zealand around the same time.

And this is exactly what caused it:

SpaceX has made three successful launches and landings of its 158th, 159th and 160th Falcon 9 rockets in less than two days.

They were SpaceX's 24th, 25th and 26th flights this year and carried a total of 55 satellites into space.

It is estimated that the mission closed a historic record for the fastest space mission sequence of a commercial company.

Burns assumed the spiral was most likely a rocket, after reading about a similar phenomenon that occurred in 2009, when a Russian missile launch caused huge blue spirals over Norway.

Although he knew the source, he said, "It was a special spectacle. None of us have ever seen anything like it. It was spectacular."

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