Satellites burned in the US sky

The American Meteor Society (AMS) received 36 different reports as the fireball passed over the states of Colorado, Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma. Observations were primarily concentrated around Oklahoma City and the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area.

According to astronomer and space vehicle tracker Jonathan McDowell at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, this object is most likely SpaceX’s Starlink satellite burning in the Earth’s atmosphere when it falls. This satellite is most likely Starlink-4682, part of a batch of 54 satellites launched into orbit in 2022 on the Starlink 4-23 mission.

According to eyewitness reports sent to AMS, the fireball was impressive. “This is the most amazing sight ever,” wrote Kevin W., an observer in McKinney, Texas.

Others described how the fireball seemed to break into many small, blazing pieces in the sky. “It was a fragmented fireball. I saw it like a bright area, then it became clearer, it was a big fireball that broke apart,” said Ryan T. of Kaufman, Texas.

As more and more Starlink satellites reenter the atmosphere and SpaceX continues to launch them weekly, some astronomers and environmental scientists say the effects of these reentry are not well understood and could cause harm. harmful to the Earth’s atmosphere.

When burning in the atmosphere, these satellites emit harmful aluminum oxide, negatively affecting the Earth’s protective ozone layer and altering the ability to reflect sunlight. Both of these factors change the temperature of the upper atmosphere. “If nothing is done, we will see a global impact within the next 10 years,” said Minkwan Kim, associate professor of cosmology at the University of Southampton, UK.

Such reentry sometimes produces fireballs that are visible from the ground, but most satellites fall unnoticed. McDowell said that almost every day a Starlink satellite falls back into the atmosphere, even several satellites fall at the same time.