WRECKAGE of a Chinese rocket has reportedly been spotted burning in the sky above Australia.
The flying inferno was mistaken for a meteor shower as it burned up in the atmosphere and left some observers thinking they were facing a missile attack.
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People in Western Australia spotted bright streaks in the night sky earlier this week.
A sonic boom was also heard by locals in the town of Broome.
The unexpected event led some space experts to believe they were watching a meteor shower that they called Kimberley.
However, experts now think the Kimberley ‘meteor shower’ was actually a Chinese rocket falling out of orbit.
Several people in Australia reported seeing burning objects in the sky at 12:30am local time on Monday.
According to ABC News, one witness called Glen Brough said: “I was sitting on the driveway with my partner … and she was like, ‘What is that?’ And the sky was just lit up, completely lit up.
“We honestly thought that they were missiles.”
Harvard astrophysicist Dr Jonathan McDowell also spoke to ABC and said he thinks Brough and his partner saw a piece of a Chinese Long March 3 rocket burning as it broke into Earth’s atmosphere.
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He said: “It [the rocket] launched a communications satellite called Tian Lian, which is actually a relay satellite that the Chinese astronauts on the Chinese space station use.
Dr McDowell used United States Space Command data to track the rocket’s fall.
“The path showed that it goes east over the entry point right over Broome and across northern Australia, so both the direction is right, and the timing is right.”
Although pieces of the wreckage breaking up looking like meteors, experts say they were moving too fast to be space rocks.
The booming sounds heard during Monday’s light display are said to have been hypersonic booms.
They can happen when space junk breaks the sound barrier upon re-entry.
Brough claims the scary noise caused “every dog” in the local area to bark.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
