The night sky offered lucky skywatchers an unexpected double feature on May 17 — a surprise geomagnetic storm and a mysterious white plume slicing through the auroras.
Astronomer Jonathan McDowell took to X to confirm that the white streak of light was the result of the Zhuque-2 upper stage passing over the U.S. Four Corners area.
McDowell further explained that the white streak was caused by the fuel dump from the upper stage at about 155 miles (250 kilometers) altitude.
Aurora photographer Derick Wilson also captured the bright white streak above Farmington, New Mexico.
Photographer Tyler Schlitt captured the white plume from southern Kansas, U.S. Schlitt, like many, had originally thought STEVE had appeared.
A surprise geomagnetic storm and an enigmatic white plume slicing through the auroras were the two unexpected features that lucky skywatchers were treated to on May 17.
After Earth was struck by a coronal mass ejection (CME), the moderate (G2 class) geomagnetic storm began early Friday, May 16, and was quite unexpected. On May 12, the sun’s northern hemisphere produced a massive filament eruption that triggered the CME. The “bird-wing” ejecta, which was initially thought to miss Earth, was wider than anticipated, and some of the material hit Earth four days after it left the sun.
The real eye-opener, however, was when a swath of brilliant white light illuminated the sky over Colorado and other U.S. S. . You might have initially assumed it was an odd variant of STEVE, a rare atmospheric phenomenon that occasionally coexists with the northern lights. However, skywatchers soon saw that it was something completely different.
Photographer Mike Lewinski told Spaceweather.com, “A bright streak of light, resembling a rocket re-entry, appeared high in the sky and flowed down to the horizon when the aurora was rippling low on the northern horizon.”.
Lewinski documented everything that happened in the sky over Crestone, Colorado.
It was a recent rocket launch. The Zhuque-2E methane-fueled rocket was launched by the Chinese company Landscape approximately an hour earlier from Site 96 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC) in China. It launched six satellites, including a space science payload and a radar spacecraft, into orbit. According to Spaceweather.com, the streak was most likely the result of a circularization or de-orbit burn, which may have been connected to satellite deployment.
To verify that the white light streak was caused by the Zhuque-2 upper stage crossing over the U, astronomer Jonathan McDowell took to X. S. The Four Corners region. McDowell went on to say that the fuel dump from the upper stage, which was located at an altitude of roughly 155 miles (250 kilometers), was the reason for the white streak.
The bright white streak over Farmington, New Mexico, was also photographed by Aurora photographer Derick Wilson.
“Although colorless, the aurora was visible. “Then the most brilliant thing I’ve ever seen in the night sky appeared above me!” Wilson wrote in a post on X.
In southern Kansas, the white plume was photographed by Tyler Schlitt. S. . Schlitt, like many others, initially believed that Steve had shown up. However, they soon discovered it was something completely different.
In an X post comment, Schlitt wrote, “It’s crazy to learn that it’s a rocket launch from China again! I saw the same thing a year ago and a few days ago and wasn’t sure, but that one seemed more like a rocket dump, and this one fell really close.”.
