(ANSA-AFP) - PARIS, MAR 25 - A blue and white spiral spotted in the sky in France and the UK was likely created by a SpaceX rocket, according to weather forecasters in both countries.
The UK's Met Office said it had received many reports of an "illuminated swirl" in the British sky on Monday evening that was likely caused by a Falcon 9 rocket that had earlier launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
"The rocket's frozen exhaust
plume appears to be spinning in the atmosphere and reflecting
the sunlight, causing it to appear as a spiral in the sky," the
Met Office explained in a post on X late Monday. The Meteo
weather forecaster in France's central Loire Valley area said it
had also received many images sent in by keen skygazers. "Don't
panic! No, it wasn't a UFO but the degassing of a SpaceX Falcon
9 rocket," the forecaster said on X. The swirls were caused by
SpaceX's NROL-69 mission, it added. The classified mission,
which was conducted for the US National Reconnaissance Office,
was successful, according to SpaceX. (ANSA-AFP).
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