Astronomers Solve Mystery Of The Bright Flying Whirlpool Spinning In Hawaii's Night Sky
Footage of an eerie spinning spiral was captured by the Subaru-Asahi Star Camera on Maun Kea in Hawaii on Saturday, April 17th. The telescope is an 8.2-meter optical-infrared telescope and is operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. The spiral can be seen entering the view of the camera from the left side, and continues to spin across the screen until it finally fades away. The answer as to what the spinning phenomenon was, actually came in the form of a SpaceX rocket.
The Falcon 9's first stage booster is reusable, and landed back on the ground successfully atop a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean, according to SpaceX. The upper stage, however, is not reusable, and once it had sent the spacecraft into its assigned orbit, it fell back into the atmosphere to burn up.
Falcon 9’s first stage has landed pic.twitter.com/76VIqs22Dx
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 17, 2022
What the reconnaissance satellite actually might be is up for debate. But fortunately the mystery of the "flying whirlpool", as described by SpaceWeather.com, has been solved.
Top Image Credit: Subaru-Asahi Star Camera