A mysterious light phenomenon has swept over Sweden on Sunday.
The white, bright phenomenon moved across the sky and looked like a magnet.
– I saw something loose in the sky, stronger than ordinary stars, says Abdulrazzak from Bjursås.
When Abdulrazzak Mazloum, from Bjursås, saw the light phenomenon at 5:30 p.m., he was at work but still had to go out and take a picture.
– I saw something loose in the sky, stronger than ordinary stars, and then I saw that it was moving.
Abdulrazzak thought it was a meteorite, but Eric Stempels, astronomer at Uppsala University, says the light phenomenon was a rocket launch.
The connection to Musk
– It was a rocket that made a runway maneuver over Scandinavia. Most likely it is a rocket that has been launched in the United States in California. We have had similar rockets before.
The rocket was likely from Elon Musk’s Space X. Eric Stempels explains that when the rockets reach orbit, they release satellites at predetermined locations. What then remains is the rocket part itself, which you don’t want left in the sky, due to the risk of it colliding with other satellites.
– If you slow down in Scandinavia, it will fall into the Pacific Ocean. Which means that you get it down in a place where not so many people live, says Eric Stempels.
May become more common
The bright scene in the sky will become more and more common, says Eric Stempels, as more and more companies want to launch rockets.
– That is a problem in itself. But if you want to see nice rocket phenomena, you will be happy, he says.
The light phenomenon is said to have also been seen in Norway. NRK reports that it must have created problems in air traffic where a plane was delayed at Lakselv Airport in northern Norway, as it disturbed the airspace.
