The skies above Switzerland were lit up by a strange phenomenon on Tuesday, with people across the country reporting a fireball falling to Earth. Rather than an off-season meteor shower or an object from deep space, the spectacle seen above Swiss skies turned out to be from a place much closer to home.
Between 9.20pm and 9.30pm on August 27, a large fireball-like shooting star was spotted falling from the sky in Switzerland. Thanks to the clear weather, people in Basel, Bern, Zurich, Lucerne, St. Gallen, Aargau and Glarus all reported seeing a cluster of burning debris falling to the ground - the light was so bright in fact that it was even seen in the centre of major cities.
Experts quickly rushed to find out what the strange lights were. Initially, it was assumed that a meteorite was behind the spectacle, but soon experts clarified that the shower was caused by other space debris.
Then, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, we got our answer as to what had caused the spectacular display.
In a statement, the German Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) confirmed that a Starlink satellite orbiting southern Germany had fallen out of orbit and entered Earth’s atmosphere over Switzerland. Satellite 2382 had been predicted to fall back to Earth, after three and a half years in operation.
Starlink, created by controversial magnate Elon Musk, consists of 7.000 mass-produced satellites and can provide internet and mobile coverage in 102 countries around the world. The majority of Starlink satellites are in low orbit, several hundred kilometres above the Earth’s surface.
If one falls to Earth, it will start to burn as it reenters the atmosphere. Unlike meteor showers, the satellite would not have been carrying as much speed, hence why it was able to linger in the night sky for so long.
Jose De Queiroz, founder and operator of the observatory in Falera, Canton Graubünden, described the event as “extraordinary.” "For a good minute, a trail of burning and breaking pieces moved across Switzerland and was clearly visible from far away," he noted.
Luckily, a satellite falling to Earth this way is more beautiful than dangerous. According to the Lucerne Observatory, a satellite of Starlink’s size “dissolves into thin air” before it hits the ground. For larger satellites, planners are careful to make sure they “are brought down in the Pacific in as targeted and controlled a manner as possible.”