Official announcements from US government or international space agencies

Object Initially Reported as Meteor Across Deep South Identified as STARLINK-3288 Satellite Debris

Dec 22, 2024, 04:33 AM

A bright object seen across the Deep South around 5:30 p.m. CT was initially reported as a meteor or fireball. Videos from various locations, including Prattville, Bryant, and Snow Lake in Arkansas, captured the event, with one video taken at 5:29 p.m. CT. However, further analysis by Bill Cooke at NASA suggests that the object was a piece of an asteroid weighing about a pound, hitting the atmosphere at 33,500 miles per hour. Despite this, other experts conclude that the object was likely space debris, specifically identified as the re-entry of the STARLINK-3288 satellite. Reports from Arkansas and Alabama, as well as sightings in South Louisiana and Jackson, Mississippi, confirm the widespread visibility of the event. The object's slow movement and clustered appearance led to the conclusion that it was not a meteor but rather debris from a satellite or rocket body.