Mumbai: Maharashtra residents witnessed an unusual event on Sunday as a blazing streak of lights pierced through the sky during the night. While many people described the sighting as a “meteor shower,” US scientist Jonathan McDowell said the supposed meteor shower was actually the re-entry of a Chinese rocket into the Earth’s atmosphere and burning up above India.
Replying to one such video on Twitter, McDowell said, “I believe this is the re-entry of a Chinese rocket stage, the third stage of the Chang Zheng 3B serial number Y77 which was launched in Feb 2021 – it was expected to reenter in the next hour or so and the track is a good match.”
Most debris from the rocket will be burnt up on re-entry and is highly unlikely to cause any harm.