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A mysterious streak of light visible over parts of Australia, including Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, on Tuesday night has been revealed as a Chinese rocket carrying two satellites into space.
Residents across south-east Queensland reported the unusual sight on Tuesday evening, with some speculating the flash of light was a comet.
The triangular streak was later confirmed as a Chinese rocket named Zhuque-2E, launched about 6.20pm local time.
Developed by aerospace company LandSpace, Zhuque-2E was carrying two new telecommunications satellites into orbit, and was visible over Queensland for about 20 minutes.
University of Queensland astrophysicist and cosmology lecturer Dr Cullan Howlett said that rockets launch straight up and then as the earth rotates, are carried backwards.
“So they then follow these arcs, and this one would have taken the rocket over Queensland,” he explained.
As the rocket propelled into space, excess waste was released, contributing to the impressive light show.
“In this case, this was a whole bunch of gas … and then because that gas is full of particles that reflect sunlight, the sunlight then bounced off those gas particles and then down onto the earth,” Howlett said.
“And because they’re much higher in the atmosphere, the sunlight can reach those, even if it’s not daytime for instance here on earth.”
While Australia typically launches much smaller rockets, Howlett said China and the US are ramping up launches for commercial reasons, as well as increased interest in revisiting the moon.
“The number of rockets being launched every year is growing exponentially, and so we’ll be able to see more and more of those from Australia, particularly as China, and potentially India, increases the number of rocket launches.”
In contrast to an eye-catching display of light, Howlett said rocket launches have negative consequences, from an environmental and research point of view.
“Rockets release lots of stuff into the upper atmosphere … and so we gain more and more of what you call space debris,” he said.
“They can collide and fall back to earth … so you get these fireballs that come across the sky, which are rockets or pieces of rockets breaking up. And they affect our ability to observe the night sky.”
Zhuque-2E’s fate will ultimately be flaming debris, with only a few rockets ever returning to earth for reuse.
“The rocket will have various sections, and then as they launch, these sections will be effectively ejected,” Howlett said.
“And then they will either stay in orbit of earth for some time before they fall back down and create a meteor, like a visible sort of fireball, or they’ll burn up in the atmosphere, so they won’t land on earth.”
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