… spoiler alert: not even a UFO.
Dubai 16/10/2017, 19:28 localtime:
A spectacular bright flying object dashed slowly for 50 seconds through Dubai's sky was spotted and recorded on video. People reportedly thought it was an aircraft crashing, a UFO and even a meteor (some thought that the Russians are invading).
Whilst it's easy to mistake it for a meteor, after watching a video uploaded by a friend and analyzing a few others, it was safe to assume it was a space junk reentry, I then turned into online open-source databases to identify this object's name.
According to satview.org, the trajectory below depicts the re-entry location of the SL-4 ( a Russian rocket body). This rocket was launched on the 14th of this month to resupply the Internation Space Station (those who thought the Russians are invading weren't very far). This rocket body was expected to reenter and burn in the atmosphere around 16 OCT 2017 15:28 UTC (19:28 converted to Dubai local time).
Ref: http://www.satview.org/forec.php?sat_id=42972U&dmy=16102017&hms=1528&win=1
Why is it not a metor/meteorite?
(Dashcams FTW!) Comparing Dubai's flying objects to the meteorites that landed over Chelyabinsk in Russia (happened on 15 February 2013 at about 09:20 - indirectly injured around 1500 people), Chelyabinsk's flying objects were reportedly brighter than the sun and did not fragment with the same way as seen Dubai's videos - it's safe to assume it wasn't a meteor/meteorite.
Here is another space debris reentry, it looks very similar to ones seen in Dubai, especially at the final stage of fragmentation:
What goes around should come around
Nowadays, most rockets' trajectories are designed to fall back and burn in the atmosphere, as for the rest, they become what we call 'space debris', 'space junk', 'space waste', 'space trash', 'space litter' and so on. Space debris are dangerous in space, they might jeopardize manned satellites, current active satellites and future space missions.
Remember! for each time you launch a rocket from your backyard, make sure to dispose it well through the atmosphere
Funny story
Late January 2017, JAXA the Japanese Space Agenecy launched an experimental space junk removal ended up failing in orbit and became space junk (who cleans this junk now?)
https://www.space.com/35543-space-junk-japan-tether-experiment-space-station-htv.html
Future events - Tiangong-1 reentry (late Dec 2017 - early Jan 2018)
Tiangong-1 (Heavenly Palace 1) is China's 1st ISS-like prototype space station (later followed by 2 and 3), was planned to be deorbited in 2013, but after a lifespace extended by 3 years, China lost the link with Tiangong-1. It is expected to produce an event brighter than the one seen in Dubai, between late December 2017 early January 2018. Less accurate data regarding time and locations is available due to the lost telemetry. For more information, Tiangong-1 can monitored on the following links:
Tiangong-1 height over the last months: http://www.heavens-above.com/TiangongHeight.aspx
Tiangong-1 visible passes in night skies: http://www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx
Do you want to see REAL meteors?
Friends in Dubai, do you want to see real meteors? You can do it this weekend!, The Orionids Meteor Shower will peak in the morning of 21st of October, it will be a weekend, just drive to the desert (Hatta-oman is the nearest), get away from city lights and enjoy the night sky. As a west-europe citizen, I envy you for your clear skies.
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