THE mystery of a fiery “meteor” that sent Australian social media users into a frenzy has been solved.
The Australian Space Agency has now revealed the stunning astronomy event was remnants of a Russian rocket re-entering the earth’s atmosphere.
The “meteor” streaked across Melbourne skies yesterdayReuters
Not known, clear with picture deskMany claimed to feel an earthquake following the sight[/caption]
They said in a statement: “Launch of the Soyuz-2 rocket occurred from Plesetsk Cosmodrome earlier in the evening.
“According to Russian authorities the launch placed a new generation ‘GLONASS-K2’ global navigation satellite into orbit.
“This launch was notified and remnants of the rocket were planned to safely re-enter the atmosphere into the ocean off the south-east coast of Tasmania.”
They continued: “We will continue to monitor the outcomes of this re-entry with our Government partners.”
One Twitter user replied and joked: “New fear of space junk landing on my roof unlocked.”
Incredible photos showed the gleaming light which many believed caused a seismic event after entering the atmosphere.
Geoscience Australia, an Australian Government Agency which monitors seismic activity, tweeted that they had received reports of movement around midnight.
They confirmed today the seismic feelings were related to the rocket’s re-entry into earth’s atmosphere.
They said in a statement: “After further analysis, Geoscience Australia can confirm that the shaking reports received from the Melbourne area at around 12:00am (AEST) 8/8/23, are not related to a seismic event.
“This is likely associated to space debris re-entry as determined by The Australian Space Agency.”
A video taken after midnight revealed the large glowing object shooting across the night sky as onlookers stood stunned.
The event baffled locals, who took to social media to share their thoughts.
One user said: “Meteor or rogue space-junk/rocket landing? People here have posted vids/pics of same at same time and describing tremor feeling as it landed.”
Another responded to a video of the “comet” or “meteor” and said: “So glad you videoed it, thought I was losing my mind. Felt a thud through the house.”
One woman added: “We were on the beach in Ocean Grove and it felt so close to us! Like right above us.
“We weren’t quick enough to video it but it was definitely going north to south. Initially we thought it was a firework shooting us it was that close!”
Not known, clear with picture deskA loud “boom” was felt by many in the surrounding areas[/caption]