A mysterious fiery trail appeared in the skies over south Louisiana on Saturday night, leaving residents wondering what they had witnessed. The trail was spotted clearly in videos shared by local viewers and is believed to be related to space debris.
According to NASA, there are millions of pieces of space junk flying in low Earth orbit (LEO), mostly consisting of human-generated objects such as spacecraft parts, paint flakes, and retired satellites. Astronomer Jonathan McDowell confirmed that the trail was likely from a decommissioned commercial satellite named GaoJing 1-02 reentering Earth’s atmosphere.
The American Meteor Society tracked the sighting, which also appeared in several other southern states including Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. The organization maintains a log of “fireball” reports, but experts emphasize that this was not a meteor sighting.
As for what caused the trail, NASA suggests it may be space junk, rather than a comet or Santa’s test run. With no official determination yet, it remains unclear what exactly sparked the fiery spectacle in the skies over south Louisiana.
Source: https://www.wafb.com/2024/12/22/fiery-trail-spotted-skies-over-south-louisiana-comet-santa-what-was-it