Flashes of light seen across the sky above south-eastern Australia on Monday night were most likely leftovers of a Russian rocket, according to the country’s space agency.
The brilliant spectacle was seen over the southern states of Victoria and Tasmania, enthralling stargazers who mistook it for a meteor shower.
However, the Australian Space Agency believes it was most likely a Russian Soyuz-2 rocket reentering the Earth’s atmosphere.
The rocket had been launched earlier that evening from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia’s northwestern region, according to the agency.
“This launch was notified and remnants of the rocket were planned to safely re-enter the atmosphere into the ocean off the south-east coast of Tasmania.
“The Australian Space Agency will continue to monitor the outcomes of this re-entry with our government partners.”
There is rising worry about the dangers that errant space debris poses to satellites, humans, and the environment.
According to Macquarie University’s Jaime Andres Alvarado Montes, Earth’s orbital traffic has become “congested” due to a “rise in objects and subsequent close encounters.”
