Mystery lights seen across SoCal revealed
Earlier this week, a series of bright lights were seen streaking across the Southland skies overnight.
The lights caused a frenzy, with videos popping up on social media.
Beginning shortly before 2 a.m., KTLA began receiving numerous calls about debris or meteors falling from the sky.
Video shared with KTLA by Alberto Guerrero showed multiple bright streaks of light flying over Lakewood.
The lights were also spotted in Anaheim, San Bernardino, Ontario, Boyle Heights, Burbank, Ventura and Santa Barbara County.
Many suspected the lights were linked to an earlier SpaceX launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base, or perhaps a meteor.
It turns out, neither theory is true.
A spokesperson for The Aerospace Corporation told KTLA, “Based on tracking data from the USSF 18th Space Defense Squadron, our analysis suggests that the object seen reentering over Los Angeles the morning of April 2 was the orbital module from the November 2022 Chinese Shenzhou-15 launch to their space station.”
The module had a mass of approximately 1,500 kg, which is large enough to create visible debris as it reentered.
The timing and location of where the debris was spotted is consistent with data collected by the corporation. They’ve updated their website for space fans to track what’s going on in the sky.
So, the answer is: space junk!
Experts say an estimated 170 million pieces of space debris are currently flying around space near the Earth.
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