Jog your mind back to a cosmic sensation that occured in late February – It was just a month ago.
Thursday Night, February 25 and star gazers across Logan City were treated to a spectacular light show in the night sky.
At the time, there was a lot of discussion as to whether it was space debris or a meteorite. Now it’s been confirmed.
According to an astrophysicist with the University of Southern Queensland, the debris was space junk from a rocket, known as Chinese Long March 3B, which launched a navigation satellite in 2019.
According to the University, it would have been about 12 meters long by 3 metres wide as it entered orbit and began breaking up into three large pieces which would have resembled three meteorites.
“It would’ve entered the Earth’s atmosphere at 7km a second – very little would’ve hit the ground”.
The bright light was seen from Logan City up the Queensland coastline.
Tracking suggests the debris would’ve crossed over Queensland on its way to the Pacific Ocean.
There’s a lot of space junk in the skies above us, but don’t worry – there are people around the world who are observing targetted space junk all the time as they try and predict if any satellites are at risk. Even the International Space Station has been forced to change course due to the threat of space debris.
