space tracking sites suggest Russian-made spacecraft re-entered atmosphere at same time object was seen in Dubai.
Dubai: Was the flaming object flying overhead in Dubai and the UAEa meteor, meteorite, asteroid or comet?
Or was it something else?
The celestial spectacle over UAE's skies caught residents by surprise at around 7.30pm on Monday. Many took videos and pictures of the bright flash streaking through the night sky in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It was also reportedly seen in other parts of the Arabian Gulf.
Then the bright light was seen breaking off into small parts — but still moving in parallel. Residents posted the pictures and videos of the spectacle on social media.
While some said it was a meteorite, information from Satview, which tracks satellites, show that the fiery object may actually have been the spacecraft known as SL-4 R/B.
The website claimed that the US Strategic Command — in charge of the US nuclear, cyber and 'Star Wars' programme — had sent out an "official message" that the "SL-4 R/B satellite reentered the atmosphere Oct/16/2017 at 15:28 UTC (7.28pm Dubai time) with an approximate error of +/- 1 minute(s)".
The site gave the approxiate re-entry point on the map, which correlates with the time and location in which the atmospheric entry event was observed in the UAE on Monday night.
The satellite, according to another site, had a Norad ID No. 39033 and international code 2012-074B. It was launched on December 19, 2012 at the Tyuratam Missile and Space Complex in Russia, near the Baikonur Cosmodrome, a Russian spaceport.
Satflare, another satellite tracking site said that the SL-4 R/B had already "decayed". It states: "WARNING: This object has decayed on Mon, 16/10/2017 UTC. When plotted, the yellow track shows the re-enter window" over the south-eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula.
Statement
In a statement on Tuesday, the Dubai Astronomy Group, said the 80-second celestial event was the falling space debris of the Russian-built Progress module [Code: SL-4 R/B (42972U)] which burnt upon re-entry.
The module was used to supply the International Space Station regularly.
"The space craft disintegrated in the upper atmosphere and broke up into smaller chunks and burned like fireworks. The trajectory of the debris was over Arabian Peninsula crossing UAE and Oman to finally over Indian Ocean," the group's statement said.
Meteorite
A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the Earth's atmosphere and impact with the Earth's surface or that of another planet.
When the object enters the earth's atmosphere, various factors like friction, pressure, and chemical interactions with the atmospheric gases cause it to heat up and radiate that energy.
Comet
Is a celestial object consisting of a nucleus of ice and dust and, when zipping around the sun, forms a "tail" of gas and dust particles pointing away from the sun. Comets are often referred to as "dirty snowballs," left over from the formation of stars and planets billions of years ago.
