Sunday night in Bryant, Arkansas, a strange and spectacular event unfolded, sparking a flurry of excitement and confusion.
Around 10 p.m., a series of bright fireballs lit up the sky, causing residents to wonder if they were witnessing a meteor shower.
However, this was no ordinary celestial display.
What many saw was the fiery re-entry of a Chinese satellite, burning up as it fell back to Earth.
The Uncontrolled Reentry
The fireballs were later identified as fragments of the SuperView-1 02 satellite, which had been in orbit since its launch by China in 2016.
The satellite, part of a commercial imaging program, had been out of operation since January 2023 and was considered “space junk.”
Scientists, including astronomer Jonathan McDowell from the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, confirmed that what people were seeing was the satellite’s “uncontrolled reentry” into the atmosphere.
McDowell explained on social media that, although experts knew the satellite was coming down, they had only a rough estimate of when and where it would happen—within a two-hour window.
The phenomenon occurred around 10:08 p.m. local time, above New Orleans, Louisiana, before continuing its descent northward, passing over states like Mississippi, Arkansas, and Missouri.
Reports Pour In
Following the spectacular sight, the American Meteor Society received over 120 reports of sightings from residents in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Missouri.
The beams of orange light that streaked across the sky caught the attention of thousands, but many of them initially mistook the event for a meteor shower.
Meteorologist Nathan Scott, who works for a CBS affiliate in Little Rock, quickly set the record straight, confirming that the fireballs were from the SuperView-1 02 satellite and not meteors.
Scott pointed out that the light trails were moving much slower than meteor showers, which typically last just a couple of seconds.
The slow-moving nature of the event made it clear that this was no ordinary meteor activity.
The Fate of the Satellite
The SuperView-1 02 satellite had been in orbit for years before it was deactivated nearly two years ago.
Weighing about half a ton, it had been slowly drifting toward Earth ever since.
Experts believe that most of the satellite burned up during reentry, though there could still be some debris scattered across the region.
McDowell speculated that parts of the satellite’s propulsion system, known for being dense, might have survived the fiery descent.
The satellite’s dramatic return to Earth was a reminder of the challenges posed by space debris and the unpredictable nature of uncontrolled reentries.
Despite being out of service for nearly two years, the SuperView-1 02 managed to put on one last spectacular show for those lucky enough to witness it.