A Chinese rocket has lit up the skies across Queensland and northern New South Wales overnight, as it passed over north-eastern Australia.
University of Southern Queensland astrophysicist Jonti Horner said the Zhuque 2E Block 2 rocket was launched about 6:20pm from a Chinese satellite launch centre and was visible over Queensland about 20 minutes later last night.
“We got a spectacular light show,” Professor Horner said.
Professor Horner said the rocket’s height meant it was lit by the sun, even though night had fallen on the ground.
“The rocket was above the atmosphere and it did what I’ve seen described as some people as passivation,” he said.
“It’s essentially the rocket letting out its excess gases, putting them off into space, I think before it deploys those satellites.
“If it had been in the shadow of the earth and there was no sunlight to reflect, we wouldn’t have seen anything.
“But because it was high enough above the earth that it could still see the sun … the glowing cloud of gas was glowing because of reflected sunlight.”
The rocket was lit up over the rural Queensland town of Surat overnight, as it headed into orbit. (Supplied: Geoff Gray)
He said some skywatchers had described a silvery or blue-tinted ball of gas that gradually turned red and disappeared.
“That looked creepy to people,” Professor Horner said.
“But what was actually happening was that this plume of gas and the rocket at its head were just moving into the Earth’s shadow.
“When you’re at sunset and you look up at the clouds or you look at the Earth around you, things go red.
“Just the same with this.”
He said the 6-tonne payload carried by the rocket are listed as direct-to-cell satellites.
Jonti Horner says sights like this will become more common. (Supplied: USQ Photography)
The astrophysicist said it was exciting to see the public response to the rocket and its gaseous trail.
And he said there would be more to come.
“We’re going to see events like this more and more often in the years because the commercial use of space is going through the roof, quite literally, and we’re getting more and more launches,” Professor Horner said.
“So this is going to become a more common event, not a less common event.
“But it’s so spectacular and so visible in that kind of post-sunset sky that it grabs people’s attention and makes them wonder and makes them ask questions.”
