meteor shower

Screenshot of a video capturing the ‘space debris’ over Durban, 11/12/2021 – Photo: Twitter

Watch | ‘Was it a meteor?’ – Bright lights spotted in Mzansi’s night sky

South Africans in three separate provinces claim to have seen a ‘meteor shower’ on Saturday night – but that probably wasn’t the case.

meteor shower

Screenshot of a video capturing the ‘space debris’ over Durban, 11/12/2021 – Photo: Twitter

There was palpable excitement across several regions of South Africa on Saturday night, after a stunning trail of bright lights was spotted high above the atmosphere. However, experts doubt this was a meteor.

KZN, Gauteng, North West witness ‘shooting star-like event’

Stargazers were treated to a rare sight, when objects that appeared to resemble shooting stars travelled across the pitch-black night sky. Many observers commented on the stunning visuals they had witnessed.

Others also believed this was part of the Geminids Meteor Shower – one of the biggest events in the celestial calendar. Meteors from this particular cluster are amongst the most visible to us here on Earth.

As more South Africans craned their necks skywards, many reached for their cellphones to take videos. Although this footage perhaps doesn’t do the spectacular sight too much justice, it’s still worth a look.

Watch: Was there a meteor shower in South Africa?

‘No meteor shower, just space debris’ – Professor poops the party

Alas, just as we were preparing to wish upon these shooting stars, a leading professor has explained this was neither a meteor shower, nor was it a rogue comet. The real answer is much more pragmatic.

Professor Tim Cooper, from the Astronomical Society of South Africa, told TimesLive that the dazzling display was actually the re-entry of a rocket from a spacecraft headed towards the ISS. That’s it guys, fun’s over…

“This was probably the re-entry of the SL-4 rocket booster from the Roscosmos Soyuz 2.1a rocket which launched the latest cosmonauts to the ISS [International Space Station] on December 11. The lights had nothing to do with a comet, asteroid, meteor stream or the Geminids as posted variously elsewhere.”

Tim Cooper