The Australian space agency claimed that flashes of light observed across the sky above south-eastern Australia on Monday night were most likely leftovers of a Russian rocket.
The dazzling spectacle was seen over the southern states of Victoria and Tasmania, enthralling stargazers who mistook it for a meteor.
However, the Australian Space Agency believes it was most likely a Russian Soyuz-2 rocket re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere.
According to the agency, the rocket was launched earlier that evening from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia’s northwest.
“This launch was notified and remnants of the rocket were planned to safely re-enter the atmosphere into the ocean off the south-east coast of Tasmania”, the agency continued.
“The Australian Space Agency will continue to closely monitor the outcomes of this re-entry with our government partners”, the agency added.
There is rising worry about the dangers that errant space debris poses to satellites, humans, and the environment.
According to Macquarie University’s Jaime Andres Alvarado Montes, Earth’s orbital traffic has become congested due to the rise in objects and subsequent close encounters.
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