Central Oregonians witness amazing sky show; expert confirms it was SpaceX rocket

'Not like anything I've seen, up here -- or anywhere, really'

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- On Thursday night, many people in Central Oregon and across the Pacific Northwest witnessed a fascinating, unprecedented sight: a group of blazing, colorful objects streaking across the night sky.

Noah Rischitelli was out near Sparks Lake with his girlfriend, viewing the stars, when he saw one, then several big bright lights.

"And the next thing, those four pieces turned into a bunch streaking across the whole sky -- and then as quick as it came, about 25 seconds across the sky, it just disappeared,” Rischitelli said Friday.   

The space debris was actually discarded material from the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that was installing Starlink satellites, an expert says. (The row of bright objects that are those satellites also puzzle many sky-watchers, but they are nothing like Thursday night's view.)

Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer for the Center of Astrophysics at Harvard and the Smithsonian, said falling space debris is relatively common.

But in this spectacular case, this fall did not go as originally planned.

"Well, this particular type of rocket, the Falcon 9, it's not supposed to happen,” McDowell said. “They're supposed to dispose of it safely." 

McDowell said astronomers had been tracking the falling debris and knew almost to the hour when it would be re-entering the atmosphere. 

"But in plus or minus a few hours, it goes around the Earth twice, so you don't know exactly where it's going to break up,” McDowell said. “And by exactly, I mean which continent."

McDowell explained the difference between what natural and unnatural space matter looks like.

"A meteor is sort of like -- 'shoom', a second and it's gone,” McDowell said. "Space debris, they're going faster than a plane, but a lot slower than a meteor."

And he understands how disorienting the view can be.

"If it's coming almost right at you, it looks like it’s going side to side, but it's really coming closer," McDowell said. "So there's all kinds of illusions that can sort of fool you into thinking it's going a totally different direction than the direction it's actually going.” 

Rischitelli further described where he saw the falling debris. 

"For us it, was kind of on the horizon above South Sister -- right across the whole sky,” he said. 

McDowell says he gets reports of falling debris all the time, but for this many people to see it, is rare.

"Not like anything I've seen up here or anywhere really,” McDowell said. “That's why I think it was so unique and something I'll remember forever."