SEATTLE — The National Weather Service in Seattle says burning debris from a rocket lit up Pacific Northwest skies Thursday night.
“The widely reported bright objects in the sky were debris from a Falcon 9 rocket 2nd stage that did not successfully have a deorbit burn,” the service says in a tweet about the astral occurrence that the Seattle Times reports was seen shortly after 9 p.m.
There were no reports of damage or other impacts on the ground.
What the hell sideways broken up meteor just flew across #seattle skies? pic.twitter.com/QYDUACXBJy
— 𝔉ɪʟᴛʜʏ ℌɪᴘᴘɪᴇ in Pajamas (@droctopu5) March 26, 2021
The Times reports the rocket delivered Starlink satellites, built in Redmond, Washington, into orbit earlier this week.
SpaceX says the Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth and landed as planned on its ocean-going barge off the coast of Florida.
Based on the observed video, this looks more likely than a bolide meteor or similar object as they would be moving far faster on impact with our atmosphere. There are NO expected impacts on the ground in our region at this time. More info will be posted as it becomes available.
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) March 26, 2021