Last week, an unidentified ball of light crossed the night sky, garnering dozens of reports of sightings from California to Texas.
According to the NY Post, the "slow-moving fireball" lit up the sky, and traveled with a bright tail trailing behind. Camera footage from Rebecca Woods' home in San Marcos was obtained via NBC 7. Woods said she first thought the object was from a Starlink launch. Apparently, the ball of light followed "the exact trajectory" of previous Starlink launches.
The object crossed the sky on July 25th. The American Meteor Report received 34 different reports of the phenomenon, from Mexico, California and Texas.
One expert has already proposed a theory as to what could have been the cause of the fireball. Eric Sandquist, a professor and the department chair of San Diego State's Astronomy Department, believes the fireball to have been caused by "Japanese space junk." Sandquist continued on, saying the object was "believed to be a booster rocket from a launch in 2010." Moreover, Sandquist cited a "prediction that the rocket would de-orbit at about the time it was observed," to further substantiate his position.
Slow-Moving Fireball Seems to Be From Space
Sandquist noted that the object's west-to-east trajectory strengthens the claim that this object was re-entering Earth's atmosphere. Objects leaving Earth most often travel west-to-east, as to use Earth's rotation as an advantage. Likewise, the lack of speed with which the object traveled suggests that it was not meteor, as meteors move much faster. Interestingly, a witness reported from New Mexico claimed to have seen the object breaking apart.
New Mexico is of course familiar with unidentified objects soaring through the sky. Roswell, New Mexico, is renowned for its history with UFOs. An alleged UFO crash in 1947 was the start of what has grown into quite a reputation. In the years that have passed, Roswell has attracted more and more attention, in part due to a television show, and a book series, the town has entered into pop culture lore.
Regardless, the object causing such a fuss on July 25th does not seem to be alien descent. Rather, a simple piece of junk.
