What was in the sky? Witnesses, experts speculate on strange sightings captured on camera
Witnesses all across the Show-Me State, and in Kansas and Illinois, took to social media to share what they captured, and to ask, 'What did I just see?'
'It looks like a portal trying to open up,' said Rex Howlett as he was recording from Waynesville, Missouri, Tuesday night.
Despite most agreeing it was a man-made object traveling across our skies, there is ongoing debate over whether it was a satellite or rocket, and who it belongs to.
Some speculated it was a satellite, a drone, a rocket, or something even stranger, like aliens or a UFO.
Daniel Bush, a Missouri photography enthusiast, captured a timelapse of what he first called a 'fuel dump' as it traveled above Albany, Missouri.
Bush tells Ozarks First on Wednesday there is ongoing debate among experts, so he can't be sure as to what happened or what it was.
As speculation continues, some online are pointing to a Vulcan Rocket that was launched last night as part of it's first mission for the U.S. Space Force.
The United Launch Alliance was touting the success of the launch from Cape Canaveral Tuesday night, describing it on Facebook as the 'First National Security Space Launch aboard Vulcan rocket delivers USSF-106 spacecraft directly to GEO.'
However, the sightings were likely none of those theories, according to an astronomer interviewed by CBS News.
In CBS News' coverage Wednesday, Derrick Pitts, chief astronomer at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, said the timing and trajectory of the Vulcan Rocket would not have lead to people in the Midwest witnessing its launch into space Tuesday night.
Instead, he told CBS News that he believes the sightings were likely that of a different rocket launched by the European Space Agency around the same time.
'ArianeSpace, a company that works with the ESA, said it launched an Ariane 6 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, around 9:37 p.m. local time,' CBS News reports.
Pitts told CBS the rocket was carrying weather satellites into orbit, and it's flight path could have been close enough to the East Coast for people on the ground to see it clearly.
While we wait for real confirmation, its a reminder that despite the thrill of theories conspiracies, sometimes the least exciting explanation is the correct one.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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