Dying SpaceX rocket triggers giant spiral of light above UK and Europe during secret mission – Livescience.com
A giant whirlpool of light, known as a “SpaceX spiral,” was recently spotted swirling across the night sky over Europe as a Falcon 9 rocket prepared to reenter Earth’s atmosphere after deploying top-secret cargo.
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On Monday (March 24), a giant swirl of light was spotted floating across the night sky in Europe like an ethereal whirlpool. The baffling light show wasn’t caused by aliens, as some speculated, but a dying SpaceX rocket preparing to crash back to Earth, shortly after deploying secret cargo into orbit around our planet.At around 8 p.m. local time (4 p.m. ET), people across the U.K. reported seeing the luminous swirl grow as it slowly streaked across the sky like something from a sci-fi movie, according to the BBC. The light show was most clearly visible above parts of England, including Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Leicestershire, Suffolk and Essex, as well as in Wales and further afield in Sweden, Croatia, Poland, and Hungary.Photographer Simon Minnican captured the ethereal scene in a stunning video that showed a bright spot appear and then grow in size before swelling into an ever-expanding vortex. The entire spectacle lasted around 12 minutes, with the spiral of light dissipating roughly 4 minutes after it unfurled.There was initially some wild speculation about what had caused the unusual light show, with at least one observer blaming UFOs. However, experts quickly pointed out that it was a “SpaceX spiral” — an increasingly common phenomenon triggered by light reflecting off rocket fuel dumped into space by spinning SpaceX rockets before they reenter Earth’s atmosphere.In this case, the spacecraft responsible for the luminous swirl was a Falcon 9 rocket that had launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 1:48 p.m. ET, more than 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) from where the bright spiral was later spotted. This rocket was carrying a secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, according to Live Science’s sister site Space.com.Related: SpaceX rockets keep tearing blood-red ‘atmospheric holes’ in the sky, and scientists are concernedSpaceX spirals occur when the second stage of a Falcon 9 rocket de-orbits and prepares to reenter Earth’s atmosphere, where it either burns up or falls into the ocean. During this maneuver, the spacecraft dumps its remaining fuel into space, which then freezes into a cloud of tiny crystals that reflect sunlight to Earth. The second stage is normally spinning when the fuel is released, which is what causes the spiral shape of the resulting cloud — and explains why the vortex continually expands before dissipating.Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.These spirals were once rare but are becoming more common as the number of Falcon 9 rocket launches increases.—SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket grounded for the 3rd time in 3 months following ‘off-nominal’ crash-landing in the ocean—’Catastrophic’ SpaceX Starship explosion tore a hole in the atmosphere last year in 1st-of-its-kind event, Russian scientists reveal—Dying SpaceX rocket creates eerily-perfect ‘dashed’ line in new photos. What’s going on?One of the most recent examples was a never-before-seen “horned” spiral reported in May 2024 above parts of Europe. In April 2023, a stunning blue SpaceX spiral photobombed an aurora display above Alaska. The phenomenon has also been spotted twice by a camera attached to the Subaru Telescope on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea; first in April 2022 and again in January 2023.Not every Falcon 9 reentry results in a visible SpaceX spiral. But amateur astronomers can sometimes predict when they are likely to occur based on the rocket’s trajectory, payload, spin rate and the time of the launch.However, in this case, the launch information was not shared in advance because of the secrecy of the mission.Harry is a U.K.-based senior staff writer at Live Science. He studied marine biology at the University of Exeter before training to become a journalist. He covers a wide range of topics including space exploration, planetary science, space weather, climate change, animal behavior and paleontology. His recent work on the solar maximum won “best space submission” at the 2024 Aerospace Media Awards and was shortlisted in the “top scoop” category at the NCTJ Awards for Excellence in 2023. He also writes Live Science’s weekly Earth from space series. Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.Futuristic, ‘alien-like’ nuclear fusion rockets developed in total secret could revolutionize space travel — if they actually workNASA reveals a sunset on the moon in high definition for the 1st timeArchaeologists may have finally discovered famous ‘lost’ canal built by Julius Caesar’s uncle
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