Déjà vu again. Around the turn of the century, perhaps 1999, I was teaching a class of astronomy beginners at the Kurri Kurri Observatory.
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A spent Chinese rocket sped across the western horizon, breaking apart into rocket-like sparks of intense light.
It has happened again.
The first rocket was seen from Maroochydore, in Queensland, to Broken Hill – more than 1600 kilometres apart.
This new Chinese rocket was seen from the Mexican border to the Rocky Mountains in Alberta, Canada – about 3200km.
As reported in NASA’s Spaceweather column it was the third stage of a Chinese rocket, which blasted off in December.
It carried a remote sensing satellite into orbit and returned into the atmosphere in grand fashion last Monday night.
Sparking as it did a family of spectacular fireballs as it incinerated over the western part of North America.
Sky-watcher John Arnold had a different perspective from Craig, Montana (pictured above).
In all, there were nearly 200 confirmed sightings of the rocket body’s incineration over nearly 3200kms.
The rocket, which was launched on December 26, carried a satellite designated Yaogan Weixing-26, a remote-sensing satellite that is used for scientific and/or military purposes.
The third-stage, which was travelling from south to north, was about five metres long and three metres in diameter, according to the privately owned website NASAspaceflight.com.
