The mysterious light, seen in the sky on Sunday night by many people in several Thai provinces, is believed to have been a reflection of the plume emitted by a Space X rocket, according to the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT).
In a Facebook post today, NARIT said that the light was seen briefly in the western sky at about 6.34pm, close to the elevation of Venus, moving in a north-westerly direction before disappearing, adding that the sighting coincided with the launch of Space X’s Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The Falcon 9 rocket, named Bandwagon-2, carried Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites belonging to several countries into orbit, said NARIT, adding that a similar light was noted on December 16th.
Among the satellites launched on Sunday night are the 425 Project SAR Sat2 for the US Defence Department, LizzieSat-2 and LizzieSat-3 internet satellites for the Sidus Space Company of the US, the Hawk 11A, 11B and 11C spy satellites for the HawkEye 360 US company, the Crocube Earth observation satellite for Croatia and a LASASat satellite for the Czech Republic.
NARIT said that such lights are expected more often in the skies over Thailand, as the exploitation of space increases.
