Posted on 1/26/2023 12:55 PM / Updated 1/26/2023 1:25 PM (credit: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)
A blue flying orb was spotted in the sky over Hawaii, USA, on January 18 by Japan's Subaru Telescope. The pictures are interesting because visually it is difficult to understand what could have caused the spiral.
However, a few days after the photo, the site space.com reported that the spiral may be related to the launch of the Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) into space by the American company's Space Force. SpaceX – and Elon Musk – on the same date.
In August 2022, a similar phenomenon was recorded in Hawaii during the launch of the Falcon 9 rocket, which also belongs to Space X. The rocket was carrying the NROL-85 instrument, which is part of the satellite launch mission – information about operations and cargo of spacecraft is secret.
It is worth noting that the rocket is reusable and that the upper part of the Falcon 9 – where the satellite or capsule is in orbit – burns up when it re-enters the atmosphere. The loops seen in the video show this moment of re-entry, before the rocket crashes into the sea.
Check out the photo from that time:
Meet Subaru
Subaru is an 8.2-meter infrared optical telescope on the summit of Maunakea, Hawaii, operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), National Institute of Natural Sciences.
The telescope has one of the largest digital cameras in the world, the Hyper Supreme-Cam, an important technology for creating world maps that covers an area nine times larger than that of the full moon at 870 megapixels, according to FAPESP.
Coverage of Correio Braziliense