Video: Chinese space junk sparks light show over California, shocking locals

Light showers will occur mid night between Monday and Tuesday.

A mysterious light streaked across the Southern California sky, shocking locals and onlookers.according to new york postThe light show will be visible from Sacramento to San Diego around 1:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday. People quickly started posting about the event, with some even sharing videos claiming it could be a meteor shower or a UFO passing by. But the media further stated that experts finally determined that this was nothing more than the remains of a Chinese spacecraft that re-entered the atmosphere.

Shooting stars, the meteor shower in Southern California…it’s awesome pic.twitter.com/oCoCpIehxg

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The confirmation was posted on X (formerly Twitter) by astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell and the SETI Institute. They said the object in the sky was the wreckage of China’s Shenzhou 15 orbital module.

According to reports, Shenzhou 15 was launched in November 2022, carrying three astronauts to the Tiangong Space Station for a six-month mission. Since its launch, the capsule has been floating in space. Space Network.

But the fireball caused by the falling module attracted widespread attention on social media. As of Tuesday afternoon, 81 people had reported sightings of the event, according to the American Meteor Society (AMS).

Many of them took to social media seeking answers about the lights’ origins.

Speculations include what could be a meteor or comet, as well as debris from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that took off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Monday night. But the second theory was dismissed because the SpaceX launch took place around 7:30 pm local time, well before the mysterious lights appeared.

It is forecast to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere on Tuesday morning ABC7.