Unusual Sky Activity Witnessed in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh

A meteoric shower like activity in the sky observed by the people of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh states on Saturday night. As the pictures of a blazing streak of light cutting through the night sky went viral on social media, netizens started speculating it. Some called it shooting stars while an Astronomer Jonathn McDowell believes it could be the possible “re-entry of a Chinese rocket stage”. 

Witnessed Meteor shower #meteorshower#Maharashtra #MadhyaPradesh #Gujrat #Telangana #ViralVideo pic.twitter.com/BpaEgB1bsJ

— Mohammad fasahathullah siddiqui (@MdFasahathullah) April 2, 2022

“I believe this is the reentry of a Chinese rocket stage, the third stage of the Chang Zheng 3B serial number Y77 which was launched in Feb 2021 - it was expected to reenter in the next hour or so and the track is a good match,” McDowell wrote this on Twitter. 

I believe this is the reentry of a Chinese rocket stage, the third stage of the Chang Zheng 3B serial number Y77 which was launched in Feb 2021 - it was expected to reenter in the next hour or so and the track is a good match pic.twitter.com/BetxCknAiK

— Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) April 2, 2022

This atmospheric activity was reported from Jhabua, Barwani districts in Madhya Pradesh and Nagpur in Maharashtra. Suresh Chopade, a skywatcher from Nagpur, said the rare celestial activity was viewed by several people in Maharashtra and the activity could be related to a satellite.

After the atmospheric activity, people in two villages of Chandrapur district in Maharashtra have found a metal ring and a spherical object. Tehsildar of Sindewahi Ganesh Jagdale confirmed the recovery saying these objects appeared to have fallen from the sky. 

Satellite fragments remains found in Sindevahi #chandrapur. Satellite pieces have fallen in a field near Ladbori village. In #Vidarbha, many were talking about the #Meteorshower due to the mysterious light seen in the night space.#Nagpur @OfficeofUT@VijayWadettiwar @Dev_Fadnavis https://t.co/ZrRBJe5v6k pic.twitter.com/vuydsBjq0O

— Praveen Mudholkar (@JournoMudholkar) April 2, 2022

It may be noted here, meteors which are often labelled ‘shooting stars’ are rocky objects and when they enter the Earth’s atmosphere at a blazing speed, the tiny rocky objects produce a shower of light streaks called a meteor shower.