Residents report strange sky sightings in Bartow and Floyd
Several in Northwest Georgia, along with others in Florida and other Mid-Atlantic states, got an eyeful this week when they saw what appeared to be a UFO or space anomaly. Turns out, it was a SpaceX rocket.
Nextdoor, a neighborhood public platform, had a resident ask, “Did anyone see what I saw in the sky last night?”
She said the object expanded like a peacock tail and became round before blasting off, leaving a steam ring. She said the event left her unsettled and frozen.
Another sighting was in Rome on January 20, according to one poster. That one was in the Armuchee area and was in the air for several hours. It was reported to the National UFO Reporting Data Center database, the poster said.
The vision of the object this past week was easily explained by someone pointing to a news article about a SpaceX rocket in the eastern U.S. sky. The company, owned by Elon Musk, launched a pair of MAXAE satellites Tuesday, Feb. 4.
Check out the video from Fox Weather here.
The launch was made from a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, according to news reports. It stated those north of Florida had the best view because of the path and final satellite orbit.
Video of the rocket shows a wide tail, looking like a peacock plume, and would leave a steam ring as it left the atmosphere.
While that explains the latest instance, it doesn’t explain the Rome sighting. The listing in the NUFORC database for Rome on Jan. 20 said the sighting was an orb or shape-shifting craft.
One possible explanation was that people got a peek at the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS is visible most Januarys in Georgia and started showing high visibility on Jan. 31 and will continue to be visible through mid-February.
Cities in Northwest Georgia that have the best visibility for the ISS are Rome, Cedartown, Canton, Dallas, Calhoun, and Summerville. Lafayette, and Trenton.
The Spot the Station website has a live tracking map and information on identifying the ISS.
Another explanation for unusual sightings is StarLink, another group of satellites launched by SpaceX. These are communication satellites that look like a string of stars or diamonds in the sky, called a satellite train. They travel in a straight line, making for a strange appearance.
The StarLink tracker states the satellite train will be highly visible in Cartersville from Feb. 11 through Feb. 13, but you must get up early. Viewing times will be from around 6:30 a.m. until 6:45 a.m. The satellites will travel southwest to eat on Feb. 11 and west to northeast the other two days.