Coloradans watch mysterious object in the sky, most likely related to SpaceX launch
If you looked toward the horizon around 6 p.m. Sunday night, you might have seen it too -- a glowing ball of light drifting across the twilight sky.
Videos poured in from across Colorado, including Silverthorne, South Park and Cañon City, showing a bright object moving slowly but steadily west to east. Social media quickly filled with questions and theories, with many wondering whether the sight was something rare or even otherworldly.
The explanation, however, turned out to be much more down to earth. All signs point to the light being a SpaceX launch from earlier in the evening, visible over Colorado because of how high it was in the atmosphere.
Summit County resident Michael Walsh was among those who spotted it and captured a video.
"I look over Buffalo Mountain here, and I see what I think is a plane, like, with its headlights through some clouds or something," Walsh said. "I'm like, 'No, that's not that. That's way brighter than a plane. What is that?'"
After posting his video to Facebook, the viral post response was immediate. Within the span of a few minutes, people from across the region were sharing their own footage and asking the same question, "What is that?"
Some of the speculation online (jokingly) leaned toward aliens, a theory astronomer Luke Huxley says he would have loved to be true -- but not this time.
"I think that's what we're all waiting for, but, yeah, I believe this to be the SpaceX rocket," Huxley said.
Huxley pointed toward the object's trajectory, brightness and movement as evidence the ball of light matched with the SpaceX launch for Starlink satellites out of California Sunday evening.
That would also explain the plume or smoke ring forming ahead of the glowing light. Huxley said that could happen when a rocket moves through different layers of the atmosphere or briefly changes its dynamics during flight. He added that rockets typically travel west to east to take advantage of Earth's rotation, which helps conserve fuel, so the direction tracks as well.
Huxley says most modern launches now carry dozens of Starlink satellites at a time.
Even after the mystery was solved, many people said the experience was still memorable. Huxley explains that twilight is one of the best times to spot rocket launches because the object is illuminated by sunlight even after the ground has gone dark, creating that glowing effect in the sky.