Китайский спутник сгорел над Новым Орлеаном, создав огненные шары в небе

Hundreds of astronomers сообщило fireballs over the southeastern United States earlier this week. But this was not a natural phenomenon – just another case of dead satellites littering the Earth’s orbit.

The fireworks were caused by a defunct Chinese satellite that re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere on Saturday night and burned up over New Orleans, Louisiana. According to online reports, bright streaks appeared in the sky over several states, including Missouri, Arkansas, and Mississippi, after the satellite re-entered the atmosphere. Although the satellite did not pose a threat to viewers, its uncontrolled re-entry underscores the need for better regulation of non-working space debris.

The American Meteor Society received 152 eyewitness accounts of seeing a fireball around 11 p.m. ET on December 22, but dismissed the event as “not a real fireball.” Later, astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell identified the source of the fireball as a Chinese satellite, SuperView 1-02, which re-entered the atmosphere over New Orleans and then headed north, he wrote on X.

SuperView 1-02 was operated by Beijing-based SpaceView and was launched in December 2016 as one of two satellites belonging to a constellation for civilian remote sensing. According to Space.com, these two satellites were the first Chinese satellites to take high-resolution images of the Earth. They were initially placed in the wrong orbit, ending up in an elliptical orbit instead of a circular one, and had to be gradually raised to begin their mission.

SuperView 1-02 was decommissioned about two years ago and left to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere uncontrolled. Some satellite operators equip spacecraft with the ability to make controlled reentry to minimize risk, but China