Eerily perfect galaxy-shaped spiral appears over Hawaii. What is it?

News
By Harry Baker
published

A mysterious "whirlpool" of light temporarily shone in the night sky above Hawaii's Mauna Kea. Experts think it was linked to a SpaceX launch.

A shot of the spiral-shaped light in the sky above Hawaii captured Jan. 18 by the Subaru-Asahi Star Camera on Mauna Kea.  (Image credit: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)

An eerily-perfect "whirlpool" of light in the shape of a spiral galaxy briefly appeared in the night sky above Hawaii. 

But what was it?

It turns out the stunning spiral was comprised of frozen rocket fuel that was ejected during a SpaceX launch.

A video of the ethereal light show was captured Jan. 18 by the Subaru-Asahi Star Camera — co-owned by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) and Japanese news agency Asahi Shimbun — attached to the Subaru telescope on top of Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano on Hawaii's Big Island. In the sped-up footage, a small blob of light unfurls into a perfect glowing whirlpool that moves across the sky for several minutes before fading away into nothingness. 

"The spiral seems to be related to the SpaceX company's launch of a new satellite," NAOJ representatives wrote on Twitter.

Related: Bizarre blue blobs hover in Earth's atmosphere in stunning astronaut photo. But what are they?

A close-up of the illuminated spiral of frozen rocket fuel. (Image credit: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)

The SpaceX launch in question was a Falcon 9 rocket that successfully lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 7:24 a.m. EST (1224 GMT) carrying a new GPS satellite for the U.S. Space Force, Live Science's sister site Space.com reported. 

The rocket's first stage, which provides the main propulsion for lift off, separated from the payload-carrying second stage around 3 minutes after launch and eventually returned to Earth. After separating from the first stage, the second stage used its small engine to propel itself into position to deploy the satellite. Once the satellite was deployed, any remaining fuel was then ejected before reentry, which caused the second stage to enter a spin before deorbiting and falling down to Earth in the Pacific ocean. The result was a cloud of frozen fuel crystals in the shape of a spiral, which were illuminated by sunlight, according to Spaceweather.com. 

This is not the first time that SpaceX rockets have caused dazzling light shows. In April 2022, the Subaru-Asahi Star Camera captured a shimmering spiral of light after SpaceX launched a spy satellite into orbit on another Falcon 9 rocket.  

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The so-called "SpaceX spirals" are becoming "commonplace over the Pacific" because this is where most Falcon 9 rocket stages fall back to Earth, Spaceweather.com representatives wrote. 

Frozen rocket fuel has also created several other stunning visual anomalies in other parts of the globe. In March 2022, frozen fuel from a Chinese rocket created a large spinning orb of light that photobombed an aurora borealis in Alaska. In October 2017, an even larger blue orb was seen in the sky above Siberia, according to ScienceAlert. On that occasion, Russian military rocket tests left the frozen fuel in the area.

Harry Baker
Harry Baker
Staff Writer

Harry is a U.K.-based staff writer at Live Science. He studied Marine Biology at the University of Exeter (Penryn campus) and after graduating started his own blog site "Marine Madness," which he continues to run with other ocean enthusiasts. He is also interested in evolution, climate change, robots, space exploration, environmental conservation and anything that's been fossilized. When not at work he can be found watching sci-fi films, playing old Pokemon games or running (probably slower than he'd like). 

12 Comments Comment from the forums
  • PastorKathleen
    It's a stargate; a passageway for moving quickly between two points in space. Stargate spirals have been depicted on hieroglyphs for hundreds, even thousands of years. Something (someone) was entering or exiting the atmosphere above earth at that moment. To capture a video of it opening and closing is highly unusual.
    Reply
  • anon2211
    PastorKathleen said:
    It's a stargate; a passageway for moving quickly between two points in space. Stargate spirals have been depicted on hieroglyphs for hundreds, even thousands of years. Something (someone) was entering or exiting the atmosphere above earth at that moment. To capture a video of it opening and closing is highly unusual.

    Wow, that's a lot of stupid in one comment
    Reply
  • PastorKathleen
    anon2211 said:
    Wow, that's a lot of stupid in one comment
    Except that it's true. When a person doesn't have information on a subject, it is best to remain silent. A better response would have been "How do you know this?"
    Reply
  • Sinbob
    anon2211 said:
    Wow, that's a lot of stupid in one comment

    And you cant see a joke when you see one?
    Reply
  • DorkJedi
    Their second reply seems to indicate they are insane, rather than joking.
    Reply
  • PastorKathleen
    I write the truth and so far I am being accused of being insane or joking. Interesting that no one even asked me how I know this information. And I thought science was about inquiry. Silly me.
    Reply
  • Jeimmy.1st
    Science is making an observation and saying the first thing that makes sense about it. It's about asking questions and developing very reasonable answers for it. For Example:

    Observation: "PastorKathleen" presents a reasonable and widely thought to be true idea.
    Opinion: "PastorKathleen" is a smart/creative person. And her observation could be true.

    Observation:"anon2211" Criticizes "PastorKathleen"s Comment/idea. Calling it "Stupid".
    Opinion: "anon2211" is a short-minded person who needs to learn how to be kind.

    And that is Perfectly Reasonable.:giggle:

    Now tell me, "PastorKathleen", How do you know this?
    Reply
  • PastorKathleen
    Have you ever heard of the "Powell Doctrine"? Here's a link. https://scienceviews.com/lostcivilizations/powelldoctrine.html
    J.W. Powell was instrumental in the development of how the Smithsonian Institute was, and continues to be run. In essence, it became the agenda of the Smithsonian Institute to discount archeological discoveries which could be dated before Christopher Columbus "discovered" the New World. To accomplish this ruse, every artifact discovered by anyone who let "authorities" know of the discovery, found the Smithsonian Institute descending upon their "digs" and wisking every artifact away to the vast warehouses in Washington D.C. and other places that most people have zero access to. The Powell Doctrine is why we have so little information on the pre-history of the Americas.

    Several years ago, researcher Steve Quayle embarked on an quest to locate artifacts, artifacts which were initially found in Mexico near Mexico City. His dig was spearheaded by a man known only asJesse G. As the team's work became known, people reached out to them and more dig sites were added to their hunt. The three letter agencies were also in hot pursuit, dogging Jesse's team at every turn.

    To make a long reply shorter, Jesse's team has found MANY artifacts. The vast majority of them are that of "alien" interactions with ancient civilizations. These artifacts point to the nefarious agenda of the so-called "aliens." "Aliens" aren't aliens at all. They are the fallen angels with their unholy alliances, which are first recorded in the Book of Genesis chapter 6 and the Book of Enoch. The artifacts depict flying saucers and the spirals (stargates) they use to move about in the solar system. In putting these together (the language imbedded in these artifacts has been decoded), an "alien" agenda is revealed. The "aliens"/fallen angels initially come in peace, but in the end, they destroy the people/civilization to whom they come.

    The entire "alien" narrative we are being fed by many is that the "aliens" are friendly and that when they "arrive," they will come to help humanity. Nothing could be further from the true. They will come to destroy us, because they have a ruler over them whose desire it is to destroy ALL of humanity and everything the God of the Bible has created.

    You may still continue to discount what I wrote initially and written since, however, what I have written is true.

    Here is more information. Pricey but fantastic.
    https://www.hagmannreport.com/egyptian-and-alien-connections-in-america-content/
    And some more...

    https://vimeo.com/ondemand/liesofmenandgods/
    Reply
  • Jeimmy.1st
    Very interesting. And what's more, It actually makes sense. And I thought I was crazy for believing that Black Holes, Worm Holes and celestial bodies were all part of something bigger. But when you add it all up it does make sense. What you said, what I believe. The earth is ours.. partially, and everything else belongs to something else, or someone else. It's out of our reach as long as we rely on the flesh. But let's not get away from the main point.

    Just wanna let you know that I agree with everything you said.. for the most part. :giggle:
    Reply
  • PastorKathleen
    Jeimmy.1st said:
    Very interesting. And what's more, It actually makes sense. And I thought I was crazy for believing that Black Holes, Worm Holes and celestial bodies were all part of something bigger. But when you add it all up it does make sense. What you said, what I believe. The earth is ours.. partially, and everything else belongs to something else, or someone else. It's out of our reach as long as we rely on the flesh. But let's not get away from the main point.

    Just wanna let you know that I agree with everything you said.. for the most part.
    Thank you for reading my entire reply. I know that it was long, but it had to be.
    Reply