Residents of Þorlákshöfn in southern Iceland noticed a mysterious light in the sky last night, RÚV reports. The light was visible for about 5-7 minutes and moved northward across the sky.
Many people who saw the object contacted the Icelandic Meteorological Institute to report their findings and inquire about the origin of the light. The object was later identified as a NASA rocket launching the Landsat 9 satellite.
The Atlas V rocket was launched at 18:12 UTC from the US Vandenberg base in California. She was spotted in southern Iceland about four hours later, where she was visible for several minutes before disappearing behind a cloud. The rocket was spotted from both Þorlákshöfn and Vestmannaeyjar.
Landsat 9 will orbit the Earth at an altitude of 705 kilometers, where it will collect images of the Earth’s surface and changes with Landsat 8.
“The Landsat Mission is like no other” – stated Karen St. Germain, director of the Department of Earth Sciences at NASA’s Washington headquarters. “This data can help us understand, predict and plan for the future in a changing climate.”
Source: Yle
