Mysterious Lights In Sky Over Bay Area Identified

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — A mysterious string of lights seen crossing northern California skies Friday night was falling space junk, according to an astronomer.

Specifically, the junk was ICS-EF, a Japanese data-sending communications package launched to the International Space Station in 2009 and jettisoned into orbit about three years ago, astronomer Jonathan McDowell explained in a Twitter thread. ICS-EF reentered Earth’s atmosphere at 9:30 p.m. over California, according to McDowell.

“It probably almost completely burnt up during reentry, but any small surviving debris may have, at a guess, reached the Yosemite area,” he tweeted.

The flaming bits of wreckage created a “spectacular light show in the sky," McDowell said, captured in a video by The Press Democrat. McDowell estimated the debris was about 40 miles high, going thousands of miles per hour. ICS-EF originally weighed nearly 700 pounds.

The falling space junk caught the attention of many in northern California, who took to social media to discuss the strange lights.

“Saw it on my drive approaching Sacramento tonight,” Reddit user K-Zoro said. “Started yelling at everyone in the car to look up. It was so slow moving so I guessed space debris and looks like another comment here confirms that. Very cool to see.”

Others sought answers from authorities online.

“Did you see 5-6 objects streaking across the sky? Looked like rockets or meteors? 9:35 pm in Napa driving Hwy. 29 north,” Mark van Gorder asked the National Weather Service’s Bay Area officials in a tweet. “Saw objects for about 30 seconds moving west to east. Nothing like I've ever seen. Pulled over to take video not fast enough. Truly amazing and alarming.”

But while McDowell was able to offer clarification to the curious, the weather service could not.

“We appreciate all the attention, we do but we're not THOSE kind of meteorologists,” the service’s Bay Area Twitter account posted early Saturday.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.