The truth behind Newfoundland's mysterious 'comet' sighting
Digital Reporter
Friday, December 18, 2015, 3:10 PM - Newfoundlanders took to social media to share several images of a mysterious ball of light streaking across the sky in parts of the province.
While some called it a comet, others thought it was the Geminid meteor shower, which takes place every year around the middle of December when Earth passes through a trail of rocky dust and debris.
This was sent to us by Lorne Burry. He says it passed over Goose Bay at 4:30 this afternoon. #nlwx #cbcnl pic.twitter.com/fHM95bxX7Q
— Lee Pitts (@lee_pitts) December 17, 2015I wish I would've seen that meteor in person ☄ #Newfoundland pic.twitter.com/Eg8ISy9If0
— Andrea Small (@Andreaa_Small) December 18, 2015
Sightings were reported in Happy Valley-Goose Bay and as far east as Clarenville, CBC reports.
However, based on SatView, a website where you can track satellites and space junk in real-time, the ball of light was actually a rocket booster dubbed: 2015-076B.
It was the Russian rocket that boosted the new space station crew to the ISS on Tuesday. The rocket re-entered the atmosphere a few hours ahead of schedule.
"Based on tracking information and the object’s identification number, this space debris was the second stage of the rocket that launched the latest crew members to the International Space Station, on Tuesday, December 15. While the three crew members, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, British astronaut Timothy Peake and NASA astronaut Timothy Kopra, arrived at the ISS within 8 hours after launch, the rocket booster made several revolutions of the planet before plunging back into the atmosphere over Labrador on Thursday afternoon," The Weather Network and space guru Scott Sutherland.
The space junk flew over Labrador between the hours of 4:30 and 5 p.m. local time, according to SatView.
More than 500,000 pieces of debris are tracked by NASA as they orbit the Earth.
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