Mystery Over Australia
Credit & Copyright:
Ray Palmer
Place your cursor on this stunning view through dark skies
over western Australia to highlight wonders of the southern
Milky Way -- including the famous
Southern Cross,
the dark Coal Sack Nebula, and
bright reddish emission regions surrounding massive star
Eta Carinae.
Recorded Tuesday at about 2 am, the thirty minute long
color film exposure
also captured a bright but mysterious object that
moved slowly across the sky for over an hour.
Widely seen,
the object began as a small
point and expanded as it tracked toward the North (left),
resulting in a
comet-like appearance in this picture.
What was it?
Reports are
now identifying the mystery glow with a plume from
the
explosion of a malfunctioned Russian rocket stage
partially filled with fuel.
The rocket stage was marooned in
Earth orbit
after a failed communication
satellite
launch almost a year ago on February 28, 2006.
A substantial amount of
debris from the breakup can be tracked.