Watch Debris from a Chinese Rocket Shoot Across the Night Sky
Many across the western U.S. who glanced up Wednesday night saw fiery streaks shoot across the sky, and experts said it was remnants from a rocket China launched in June.
The debris passed over parts of California, Colorado, Nevada, Utah and Idaho, and prompted a number of social media posts of people asking about the meteor-like occurrence. Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center, told the Los Angeles Times that the debris was part of the Long March 7 Rocket that China launched on June 25.
Full video of meteor-like event @BadAstronomer pic.twitter.com/q37UzRZKpa
— Matt Holt (@mholt6) July 28, 2016
McDowell said the rocket reentered over Utah around 9:40 p.m., and that the main body will likely have melted so that only a few small pieces of metal would reach the ground.
The rocket itself marked a new stage in China’s rocketry programs, McDowell said.
The rocket stage reentering over the western US tonight was from the first launch of the CZ-7, one of China's new generation of rockets
— Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) July 28, 2016
So far in 2016 there have been 25 reentries of objects massing 1 ton or more. But objects of 5 ton+ class like this are rare.
— Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) July 28, 2016
[LA Times]
