“Meteorite or aliens” over Hawkesbury this evening was Chinese rocket

This evening several residents saw what some thought could be a meteorite, or even alien spacecraft, passing over the Hawkesbury complete with trails of fire – Grose Wold resident Samantha Knowles shared some pictures and a short video on Facebook earlier this evening – but it seems it was a Chinese rocket.

Video taken this evening by Grose Wold resident Samantha Knowles of the mystery object

Apparently there is no reason to panic. Bathurst Observatory Research Facility tracked the rocket – and say on their Facebook page this evening, “a lot of questions after many witnessed a rocket stage exhaust was sighted over the central west around 6.45pm.

“This one was from one of two launches from China today.

“The rockets generally burn a few times (stages) in order to place its payload into the correct orbits. Sometimes we can see them like tonight.”

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