By MASANOBU HIGASHIYAMA/ Staff Writer
December 19, 2024 at 17:55 JST
Early risers across Kagoshima Prefecture and other parts of western Japan spotted a fiery object slowly splitting apart as it traveled across the predawn sky around 4 a.m. on Dec. 19.
An expert said that the object was likely a Chinese spacecraft that re-entered the atmosphere and burned up.
Live footage from a camera set up by The Asahi Shimbun in Tarumizu, Kagoshima Prefecture, captured the streak of light moving beyond Mount Sakurajima.
Daichi Fujii, a curator at the Hiratsuka City Museum in Kanagawa Prefecture, said that the object was likely the orbital module of China’s manned spacecraft Shenzhou 17, which was launched in October last year.
The module had remained in orbit after detaching from the return capsule that carried three astronauts to a Chinese space station.
In Kagoshima city and surrounding areas, a glowing object was seen breaking apart and fading over several seconds in the early hours of Dec. 19, with videos of the spectacle shared on social media.
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A streak of light seen next to Mount Sakurajima is captured on a camera set up in Tarumizu, Kagoshima Prefecture, on Dec. 19. (The Asahi Shimbun Live YouTube channel)
