See the Chinese rocket that surprised aurora watchers

On May 16, 2025, Mike Lewinski was doing time lapse photography of the aurora in Colorado when a white streak sailed across the sky. The bright streak had many stargazers buzzing on social media, wondering what they saw. But now it appears it was a fuel dump from a Chinese rocket that had just launched. Image via Mike Lewinski. Used with permission.

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Mysterious streak is from a Chinese rocket

On the evening of May 16, 2025, many stargazers were looking northward for the aurora. As the EarthSky sun team reported, earlier in the week the sun had fired off some X flares, and the northern lights danced for observers at higher latitudes. But aurora watchers also saw an unusual bright streak cutting across the sky. While the source of the streak was a mystery for a few hours, some finally put together the pieces of the puzzle and pinpointed a Chinese rocket as the cause.

According to Jonathan McDowell, a retired astrophysicist from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and others, the source of the light streak was LandSpace’s Zhuque-2E rocket. It launched from Jiuquan, China, about an hour before the reported sightings. The rocket uses a new methane-fueled engine, and it deployed six satellites on May 16. McDowell said on social media that the:

upper stage passed over the US Four Corners area at 5:25 UTC May 17 [11:25 p.m. MDT May 16] and is the source of the unusual luminous cloud seen by many observers.

Photo from the EarthSky community

Kathie O’Donnell in South Dakota regularly contributes aurora images to EarthSky Community Photos. Kathie also caught the unusual streak of light in the sky and submitted it to us. Great catch, Kathie!

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Kathie O’Donnell in Rapid City, South Dakota, wasn’t sure at first just what she caught while photographing the aurora on May 16, 2025. Now it appears that many skywatchers saw a Chinese rocket dumping fuel. Thanks, Kathie!

Bottom line: On May 16, 2025, aurora watchers spotted something unusual in the sky. A recently launched Chinese rocket with a new methane-fueled engine had passed across parts of the U.S. while performing a fuel dump.

The post See the Chinese rocket that surprised aurora watchers first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/4sPu95h

On May 16, 2025, Mike Lewinski was doing time lapse photography of the aurora in Colorado when a white streak sailed across the sky. The bright streak had many stargazers buzzing on social media, wondering what they saw. But now it appears it was a fuel dump from a Chinese rocket that had just launched. Image via Mike Lewinski. Used with permission.

Your support = more science, more stars, more wonder.
Donate to EarthSky and be part of something bigger.

Mysterious streak is from a Chinese rocket

On the evening of May 16, 2025, many stargazers were looking northward for the aurora. As the EarthSky sun team reported, earlier in the week the sun had fired off some X flares, and the northern lights danced for observers at higher latitudes. But aurora watchers also saw an unusual bright streak cutting across the sky. While the source of the streak was a mystery for a few hours, some finally put together the pieces of the puzzle and pinpointed a Chinese rocket as the cause.

According to Jonathan McDowell, a retired astrophysicist from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and others, the source of the light streak was LandSpace’s Zhuque-2E rocket. It launched from Jiuquan, China, about an hour before the reported sightings. The rocket uses a new methane-fueled engine, and it deployed six satellites on May 16. McDowell said on social media that the:

upper stage passed over the US Four Corners area at 5:25 UTC May 17 [11:25 p.m. MDT May 16] and is the source of the unusual luminous cloud seen by many observers.

Photo from the EarthSky community

Kathie O’Donnell in South Dakota regularly contributes aurora images to EarthSky Community Photos. Kathie also caught the unusual streak of light in the sky and submitted it to us. Great catch, Kathie!

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Kathie O’Donnell in Rapid City, South Dakota, wasn’t sure at first just what she caught while photographing the aurora on May 16, 2025. Now it appears that many skywatchers saw a Chinese rocket dumping fuel. Thanks, Kathie!

Bottom line: On May 16, 2025, aurora watchers spotted something unusual in the sky. A recently launched Chinese rocket with a new methane-fueled engine had passed across parts of the U.S. while performing a fuel dump.

The post See the Chinese rocket that surprised aurora watchers first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/4sPu95h