A luminous object crossed the Swiss sky on Tuesday evening and left many observers perplexed. According to several experts, it is a Starlink satellite that disintegrated above Europe.
“It looks like a huge meteorite”, “what is it?”, “it’s a shooting star”: on social networks and in videos sent to the media, suppositions are flying.
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Observed in Switzerland around 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, but also in France and Belgium, this luminous trail is in reality a satellite entering the Earth’s atmosphere, if we are to believe the experts.
On X, astrophysicist Éric Lagadec believes that given “the speed” of the object, it is “probably not a meteor”.
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Gilles Dawidowicz, vice-president of the French Astronomical Society, told BFMTV that “according to the first elements we have, this is an atmospheric re-entry of a Starlink satellite”, the company of billionaire Elon Musk. Information confirmed by the German army’s Space Surveillance Unit.
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Objects that “melt”
This phenomenon is quite common, underlines Fabien Jordan, director of Astrocast, in the 12:30 p.m. news on RTS.
The reasons for these “falls” are diverse. Some of the Starlink satellites, for example, “are just not high enough in altitude when they are released,” explains the co-founder of the Vaud-based company that operates mini telecommunications satellites.
Shouldn’t we then fear that debris will fall on our heads? Fabien Jordan wants to be reassuring. These objects “move at high speed and enter the dense layers of the atmosphere,” he explains. “The gases in the atmosphere are then compressed in front of the object,” which melts the satellite’s materials.
>> Listen to the explanations of Fabien Jordan, director of Astrocast, interviewed in the 12:30:
Starlink by the thousands
SpaceX, for its part, assures that its disintegrating satellites do not pose a danger to public safety.
Elon Musk’s company is by far the largest operator with more than 5,000 Starlink satellites orbiting the Earth.
Doreen Enssle with ats
