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On the evening of March 25, 2021, photographs and videos showing a strange light streaking across the Pacific Northwest sky started circulating on social media: Twitter user Erik Rasmussen shared a video of the scene: As these pictures were spread on social media, many people speculated about what could have possibly caused this strange sight. A meteor? A missile? A UFO? According to the Seattle branch of the National Weather Service, the streak of light seen in the above-displayed media was caused by debris from the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket: SpaceX, a company founded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has been using its Falcon 9 rocket to launch Starlink satellites into orbit. While SpaceX has yet to comment on these pictures, multiple astronomers have reached the conclusion that debris from the Falcon 9 caused this strange light show. James Davenport, a research assistant professor for the Department of Astronomy at the University of Washington, told NBC-affiliate KING 5 that these pictures show the top end, or second stage, of the Falcon 9 rocket that failed to complete its de-orbit burn. Astronomer Jonathan McDowell added that the debris in this video was probably about 40 miles above Earth, which is more than 30 miles higher than most plane routes. McDowell also noted that while astronomers have known that this debris would be coming back to earth for a while now, it was difficult to predict exactly when and where it would happen:
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