On Saturday night (17), residents of various north -American regions observed a brilliant, whitish strip crossing the sky, visible to southern New Mexico. The phenomenon attracted attention because it looks like a dawn, but it had a very different explanation.
Since this was a night for auroral activity, as the Earth’s magnetic field had been affected by a jet solar particle days before, the initial suspicion was that it was a Steve (acronym for “ strong thermal speed ”): a type of atmospheric light, as the upper layer of the atmosphere, called ionosphere.
While the auroras usually shine in large strips of green, blue or reddish light, depending on their altitude, Steve usually appears as a single white and white light that extends through hundreds of kilometers. Sometimes this bright tape is accompanied by a green line of popular lights, similar to a fence.
The fuel released by the rocket caused the beam of light in the sky
However, according to astronomer Jonathan McDowell published in X (former Twitter), the sky court was actually the fuel path sent by the Chinese rocket Zhuque-2e Y2, from the landscape, launched at 1:12 (for Brasilia) and took six satellites to Earth’s orbit.
The TLE confirms that the Zhuque-2 upper stage passed over the area of the four corners of the United States to 0525 UTC on May 17 and is the source of the unusual luminous cloud seen by many observers.
– Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) May 17, 2025
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About an hour after the release, the fuel was released into the atmosphere, at an altitude of 250 km, creating the visible brightness in various parts of the country.
The fuel used was metalox with sound, a mixture of methane and liquid oxygen. This type of propellant has gained space in the space industry because it is cheaper, clean and viable for future missions on Mars.
“Zhuque-2 higher stage fuel landfill, about 250 km altitude,” he said @planet4589 https://t.co/xihoyjmzoq pic.twitter.com/yldprFxjc
– Tom bike (@ton_Bike) May 19, 2025
The brightness caused by this type of fuel can occur in different ways. One is the reflection of sunlight due to ice crystals in the atmosphere, but only near sunset. High hours of the night, as in this case, the origin is chemical.
This plume was not an aurora and it was not Steve. We believe it is related to a rocket launch in China. About an hour before the plume appeared (5:39 UTC), the launching launch launch Landspace launches the Zhuque-2e rocket of the Jiuquan satellite launch center (4:12 UTC). It … pic.twitter.com/fecwhfxbzt
– Ranch Oppenheimer (@diamondHedave) project May 17, 2025
In the ionosphere, released gases, as a methane, react with loaded particles, producing light similar to chemo -skeptic, the same type of reaction as bats are bright.
This rare phenomenon is still little known to the public. But, with the advance of metallox -fed rockets, new “bright stripes” may appear in the sky. Now, if you are on these sides and come one, you know that it can be rocket fuel, not a boreal dawn.
