Strange spiral in the night sky was a rocket fuel dump (earthsky.org)

posted by Kelly Kizer Whitt
August 13, 2025

Watch more about the strange spiral in the night sky that many people saw while looking for Perseid meteors on August 12, 2025. Here, EarthSky’s Deborah Byrd talks about the rocket fuel dump and shares EarthSky community photos of the event.
Strange spiral in the night sky has the internet abuzz

Stargazers outside looking for Perseid meteors last night were treated to an unusual sight. On Tuesday, August 12, 2025, many people in the northern and eastern parts of the United States reported seeing a strange spiral in the night sky. They described it as slowly moving and rotating. Indeed, even some aviation buffs and longtime amateur astronomers were stumped by what they were seeing.

In this case, it was a fuel dump from a rocket. There were two rocket launches Tuesday. One was a ULA Vulcan from Florida and the other was Europe’s Ariane 6 launch from French Guiana in South America. The ULA rocket went east. Meanwhile, the Ariane 6 headed north into a polar orbit. This polar path is the one that passed over the northern tier of the United States during its fuel dumping, surprising stargazers.



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Reports across the United States and Canada

Some of the locations that reported seeing the fuel dump include Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and New York. In addition, places like Ontario in Canada also witnessed the unusual sight.

Did you get a photo of the strange spiral? Submit it to us!
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more (pix, video): https://earthsky.org/space/strange-spiral-in-the-night-sky-rocket-fuel-dump-aug-12-2025/?mc_cid=de58db5a28