Aurora borealis seekers were surprised to see an ethereal, mysterious spiral appear in the sky just ahead of the northern lights. A whitish-blue spiral, much like a galaxy, appeared in the Alaskan skies for a few minutes. Tourists who went into the forest to see the northern lights were impressed by the event. The explanation behind it is far from paranormal theories and is rather a sad reality.
While the Northern Lights were glowing with their iridescent lights and delighting the eyes of the seekers of such phenomena, a mysterious bluish spiral suddenly materialized. The object formed out of nowhere in front of their eyes on the northern horizon as if it were an interdimensional portal.
Observers said that a very bright light appeared before them while they were photographing the northern lights. It immediately began to take on a spiral shape and grew larger as the seconds ticked by. The mysterious object looked like a galaxy in the sky; however, spiral galaxies like Andromeda, which is the closest to the Milky Way, are 2.5 million light years away from Earth. And although it is visible to the naked eye, it only appears as a diffuse and distant spot in the sky. The spiral in the sky, on the other hand, looked very detailed and close to the observer. Onlookers were stunned by the event and managed to photograph the strange spiral, which then vanished.
During a bright northern lights display, an all-sky camera at the University of Alaska’s Poker Flats Research Range caught a fuel dump from @SpaceX rocket which created the eerie blue spiral #spacex #spiral #alaska pic.twitter.com/gQOayZc9rE
— Dean Regas (@DeanRegas) April 16, 2023
What Was the Mysterious Spiral in the Sky?
The apparition was also captured in timelapse by the camera of the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska and shared on social networks. In the image, the entire sphere of the celestial vault can be seen as the northern lights spread across the sky, then a strange spiral appears below and widens as it rises toward the zenith. Finally, it fades and eventually vanishes at the top of the celestial map.
While it may look like a paranormal object, it actually shows the sad reality of aerospace pollution. The phenomenon is a consequence of fuel contamination left behind by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. This type of rocket is reusable, after fulfilling its mission of placing satellites in orbit, the first stage of the ship returns to earth and lands again on its platform, but the second stage falls from space and when rotating towards its free fall, it expels all the remaining fuel before colliding with the ocean to be lost at the bottom.
The spiral seen in the image above is formed by rocket fuel transformed into ice. Sunlight and auroras illuminate the suspended ice particles swirling in a giant spiral. Sadly, although the phenomenon may be enrapturing, it is a sad reality that companies like SpaceX are raising the level of pollution to worrying limits.
Story written in Spanish by Alejandra Martínez in Ecoosfera