ILLUSTRATION. A mysterious fireball is seen crossing the night sky of the Midwest of the United States; Illustration Image: Perseid Meteor. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Writer: Arif Budianto
KONTAN.CO.ID – Washington DC. A mysterious fireball crossed the night sky of the Midwest of the United States on Wednesday morning (10/20/2021). The mysterious fireball was seen by many residents and experts in the Midwest region of the United States.
Quote from USA TODAY, a mysterious fireball object was seen crossing the night sky in the Midwest of the United States. So mysterious, many people speculate about the fireball.
WDIV-TV reported that the astronomical phenomenon was seen at around 12:45 am local time across Michigan. Reported from Space, American Meteor Society (AMS) has so far received more than 80 reports of fireballs appearing in the region.
AMS also managed to share video which was captured by several observers named Chris Johnson with a duration of 27 seconds. Over the skies of Fort Gratiot Township, Michigan, this mysterious fireball can be seen flashing past.
Some people doubt what exactly the fireball is, is it the Orionid meteor? or something else?
Also Read: A large asteroid will pass by Earth, is it dangerous?
Space reported that the fireball was a Russian spy satellite that failed and fell back to Earth. On its way to Earth, the satellite caught fire and looked like a fireball seen in the Midwest of the United States.
The satellite, named Kosmos-2551, was launched on September 9, but apparently failed shortly thereafter. The spacecraft was out of orbit once, not even since liftoff.
McDownell as an Astronomer on Monday (18/10/2021) made a joke on Twitter noting that Cosmos-2551 is expected to return to Earth’s atmosphere the next day. The estimate turned out to be a little off in less than an hour.
It now seems certain that Russia’s recently launched Kosmos-2551 spy satellite is a failure – it has not adjusted its orbit since launch on Sep 9 and is expected to reenter tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/IDOHZstYV6 — Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) October 19, 2021
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The burning of Kosmos-2551 doesn’t seem to threaten anyone at the site of this visible fireball that has left some in the Midwest of the United States wondering. The satellite is estimated to weigh about 500 Kg (1,100 pounds) and no debris is expected to fall to the ground.
That is the statement made by McDownell in a joke on his Twitter account.
A similar phenomenon does look spectacular, but not too rare. For example in 2020, re-entering the third stage caused the Soyuz rocket to look like a fireball in some parts of Australia.
Similar incidents are known to become more common as humanity launches more satellites into orbit. The satellite explosion has worried many experts, who stress that action is needed to ensure the space debris problem doesn’t spiral out of control.
Mysterious fireballs aren’t necessarily meteors, asteroids or even satellites that fall to Earth. Further observations are needed to find out what objects are actually burning in this space.
