Skywatchers stunned: What was that bizarre white streak during the aurora?
credit: instagram/mikelewinski@flickr
The American southwest skies burst into a spectacular cosmic display, leaving thousands of spectators mesmerized. On the night of Saturday, May 17, 2025, a once-in-a-lifetime, shocking spectacle of radiant green and purple auroras was observed across the entire expanse of the sky.
An already rare phenomenon in itself was jolted by an unexplained, blinding white flash slicing abruptly across the sky. This ghostly-appearing, nearly otherworldly flash brightened the night with brilliant intensity, intriguing the sky observers and touching off a storm of conjecture.
What was this oddly lovely streak?
Around 11:30 p.m., a bright white streak was visible high up in the sky over Colorado and surrounding states. At first, individuals thought it might be an atmospheric occurrence called STEVE (Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement), which typically is a purple or white ribbon blazing across the sky during powerful solar storms.
But it was something else entirely.
So what was it?
Astronomer Jonathan McDowell verified that the white trail was a fuel dump from the chinese Zhuque-2E rocket's upper stage. Fired earlier the same evening from the
Jiuquan Satellite launch facility
in China. As the upper stage of the rocket flew over the U.S four corners country at an altitude of about 155 miles (250 km), it dropped a plume of exhaust that reflected the light, causing a bright contrail to be visible throughout the southwestern U.S.
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The rocket just flew as the geomagnetic storm peaked, causing the auroras and white streak to appear at the same time. Photographers across the entire impacted region snapped excellent images of the display. Mike Lewinski, who was present in Crestone, Colorado, described, "The aurora was rippling low on the northern horizon when suddenly a brilliant streak of light, much like a rocket re-entry, appeared high in the sky and flowed down to the horizon.
What was the public response?
Clearly, a phenomenon and light as unusual as this will cause panic and commotion among the masses, particularly on social media websites, with a lot of users posting pictures and speculating as to what the
white streak in the sky
would be. Some believed that it could be a UFO, while others believed that maybe it was some new atmospheric phenomenon.
Is this the new era's
skywatching
?
The breathtaking occurrences of May 17 will probably be forever seared into the memory of those who were lucky enough to see them, not only for the oddly lovely design but also for the dreamlike imposition of a man-made event upon one of nature's most spectacular spectacles.
This moment is a breathtaking example of our time: an era in which the wonders of the universe and the universe can illuminate the sky simultaneously and breathtakingly.
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