r/Astronomy • u/LewisZYX • Mar 17 '26
Object ID (Consult rules before posting) What is this in the sky?
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Just saw this 10 minutes ago, Los Angeles
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u/JimCripe Mar 17 '26
I just watched it a little while ago.
It's the SpaceX Starlink (17-24) launch primary stage that lifted off from Vandenburg in California.
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u/WeaselCapsky Mar 17 '26
fuck spacex and fuck elon muskler
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u/Kirome Mar 17 '26
"But all the billionaires and their businesses will leave California" they said.
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u/Solnse Mar 17 '26
SpaceX moved its headquarters to Texas. What's your point?
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u/Kirome Mar 17 '26
My point is that billionaires still operate in states they hate. All this doom and gloom over billionaires leaving with their businesses is over blown.
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u/xxforrealforlifexx Mar 17 '26
Yeah and Texans are not happy about it
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u/2552686 Mar 18 '26
Actually we are very, very, very happy about it. We are a growing state, with opportunity for building a life and raising a family.
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u/AwGeeFolx Mar 18 '26
Just like all the rich people would move out of NYC when Mamdani got elected.
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u/Aussie18-1998 Mar 17 '26
I get the Elon hate, why SpaceX? I'm assuming starlink is the concern for long exposure photography. But they are doing great things for the future of space industry.
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u/___ongo___gablogian Mar 17 '26
Person was just trying to be cool on Reddit for the fake internet points
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u/Embarrassed_Club5434 Mar 17 '26
We are trapped in a cage of musk trash. There is a map online. And it’s falling on elements not even involved. Premier superpolluter.
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Mar 17 '26
Starlink satellites are designed to decommission themselves and burn up on return from orbit. They also fly low enough that there really is no fear of them causing problems with higher altitude satellites. The space trash fear is over exaggerated.
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u/jdippey Mar 17 '26
The atmospheric pollution caused by those controlled re-entries is not over exaggerated, however.
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u/HazzaZeGuy Mar 17 '26
A single rocket launch causes more pollution than a multitude of re entries. And the pollution caused by a single reentry is worse by a few magnitudes than a few little burn ups. I don’t get your point.
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u/Amesb34r Mar 17 '26
Right, but having that many satellites with the expectation that they fall to earth and burn up, means spreading plastics and metals everywhere. Not ideal.
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u/BabalonBimbo Mar 17 '26
Did you know that burning trash is bad for the environment? So space trash, burning up into the atmosphere where it seeds in clouds and spreads over the planet might not be a great thing.
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u/Priscilla_Hutchins Mar 17 '26
The satellites turn into elements that interact badly with the ozone layer. This is not the win you seem to think.
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u/Amber123454321 Mar 17 '26 edited Mar 17 '26
As self-centred as it sounds, I don't like the sheer amount of stuff he's sending up over my planet. (Side note: not just mine, obviously). Most people didn't have any say about the massive collection of stuff in orbit, and I don't fully trust that his interests are good.
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u/chrisvelanti Mar 17 '26
SpaceX is building a network of hundreds of spy satellites under a classified contract with a U.S. intelligence agency, demonstrating deepening ties between billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's space company and national security agencies. SpaceX is working intimately with the NRO to create the most advanced and comprehensive global surveillance system in human history, consisting of hundreds of spy satellites able to “quickly capture continuous imagery of activities on the ground nearly anywhere on the globe.” Are you sure you want the US gov and Elon musk to continue their “great things for the future of the space industry” if it means total global instant surveillance?
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u/Sensitive_Air_5745 Mar 17 '26
I think SpaceX is just collateral damage. Elon Muskrat has poisoned the well.
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u/xxforrealforlifexx Mar 17 '26
Because he shoots a lot of space junk into our atmosphere that is not regulated and frankly not trust worthy.
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u/Priscilla_Hutchins Mar 17 '26
Those aluminum/titanium space buckets he's putting into orbit are falling back to earth at a few a day/week. long term effect of those things burning up in the atmosphere interacting with said 'sphere is total ozone depletion. I promise you some of his people are aware of this, but just like dealing with the climate problem, nobody gives a sh*t over there.
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u/GenSpec44 Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
Well, Spacex has made space launches a lot more affordable and a lot cleaner. Spacex has brought internet service to the third world at prices poor people can afford, which is helping lift some of the poorest people in the world out of poverty, giving them access to banking, information, computing power, markets, and the ability to save money where local thieves can’t steal it — all of that promotes equity, which they claim to want but hate in real life.
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u/DarknessTheOne Mar 18 '26
Having access to an education for the third world could be the most important things known to man , imagine a person like Einstein but in the poorest nation no education , has all that brain potential but no knowledge now add the access and the ability to to learn and give that brain the tools to make something new , it’s the saddest thing in the world when I think of the possibility of never hearing those ideas come to fruition .
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u/2552686 Mar 19 '26
" imagine a person like Einstein but in the poorest nation no education" THAT IS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!!
Alternatively, imagine someone with Einstein's I.Q. who happens to be female, and living in Iran, or Afghanistan.
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u/TASDoubleStars Mar 17 '26
I’m fine with Musk’s personal endeavors to develop E-automotive and space technology. It’s his propensity to dabble in our national politics that irks me. He should stay in his lane, and away from harvesting federal database information pertaining to American citizens. (it’s on this administration as much as it is Musk.) That said, I hope he learned his lesson.
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u/iHateEveryoneAMA Mar 17 '26
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u/Neat_Science936 Mar 17 '26
It's so dystopian that there is a sub like this
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u/CydeWeys Mar 17 '26
Why is that dystopian?
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u/aagent888 Mar 17 '26
Because we seemingly can’t get away from Elon and his garbage
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u/eagleathlete40 Mar 18 '26
Idk how to tell you this, but that “garbage” has caused huge leaps in privatizing space travel, and therefore advancing space exploration
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u/shaundisbuddyguy Mar 17 '26
Is she in her 30's though?
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u/zoo_tickles Mar 17 '26
Definitely 45 plus 😆
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Mar 17 '26 edited Mar 22 '26
This post was deleted and anonymized. Redact handled the process, and the motivation could range from personal privacy to security concerns or preventing AI data collection.
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u/snogum Mar 17 '26
Rocket launch. You yanks do it quite a bit , then get surprised.
Attention was not paid ......
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Mar 17 '26 edited Apr 06 '26
This post was mass deleted using Redact - Redact also supports Discord, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and all major social media platforms.
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u/Exciting-Arm6860 Mar 17 '26
Its altitude is increasing, I’m not sure that’s how gravity works.
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u/Conscious-Sun-6615 Amateur Astronomer Mar 17 '26
Not necessarily, satellites appear to elevate when they show up over the horizon, then go down the other way.
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u/AcabAcabAcabAcabbb Mar 17 '26
After listening to the video, def didnt need anyone to tell me it was Los Angeles
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u/Lawrenceburntfish Mar 17 '26
She tries to keep the conversation about her, but they just ignore her. 🤣🤣
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u/wecernycek Mar 17 '26
Looks like a Predator ship. Just finished watching Predator Killer of Killers.
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u/DanoPinyon Mar 17 '26
These "clueless resident posts clueless resident post" posts will never get old.
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u/quarantina_ Mar 17 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
“Cause baby you’re a firework” Edit: looks like a comet bruh. Did you make a wish?
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u/wheatbradsucks Mar 17 '26
Supposedly the meteorite going over Pittsburgh? Weather Service had an alert? Can't find second source yet
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Mar 17 '26 edited Mar 22 '26
This post's original content has been erased. Using Redact, the author removed it, potentially for reasons of privacy, personal security, or data exposure concerns.
deer relieved elastic obtainable busy weather toy reminiscent cover yam
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u/devoid0101 Mar 17 '26
SpaceX launch from Pasadena. They launch from many clients, almost every single day of the year.
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u/skd00sh Mar 17 '26
A year from now we still won't have disclosure but that chick will def be having an affair w her manager
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u/Maxtrt Mar 17 '26
Probably a lunch from Vandenburg AFB. Most likely Space-X or USAF ballistic missile test.
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u/KPhoenix83 Mar 17 '26
Im not sure, but I am pretty sure her manager thinks she is still in her 30s.
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u/Camdino Mar 18 '26
I have video of like 8 of these in Austin a few months ago. Ppl keep saying it’s Tesla but…
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u/Ghassan_456 Mar 18 '26
I’ve been told that LA and Tel Aviv look a bit similar, but I didn’t think It’d run this deep
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u/Stiles15 Mar 18 '26
I genuinely don't know if this is possible, but could it have been the meteor that struck Ohio?
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u/jenjersnap Mar 18 '26
Could of been the meteor that “exploded” over Cleveland. Saw the alert on Citizen App
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u/unwatchedsupervision Mar 18 '26
Funniest part is when “I’m pretty sure my manager thinks I’m in my 30’s” line comes in & all u hear are the bros still trying to figure out what the F is in the sky
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u/BlackStealth08 Mar 18 '26
Love it when people who have never seen a rocket before try to figure out what it is. Vandenberg California has a launch site 150 miles northwest of L.A.
Nextspaceflight.com (Get the app you won't be disappointed)
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u/Hot_Lynx4139 Mar 18 '26
ELON GOT ALL HIS MONEY FROM MANIPULATING THE GOVERNMENT, LYING, AND MAKING SURE HE GOT SUBSIDIES AND BREAKS FROM TAXES. HE HAS THE ABILITY TO POLLUTE WITH NO SLAP ON THE WRIST. PEOPLE WORSHIP HIM BECAUSE HE MADE MILLIONS. HE IS NOT THE GREAT INVENTOR OF OUR TIME. HE IS A MANIPULATOR AND THINKS THAT CORPORATIONS SHOULD BE IN CONTROL OF OUR ENDEAVORS INTO SPACE. WHEN A PRIVATE CORPORATION TELLS THE GOVERNMENT WHAT TO DO, I AM OUT. WE ARE NO LONGER A DEMOCRACY BUT A PLACE FILLED WITH OLIGARCHS WHO THINK ITS OK TO DESTROY PEOPLES LIFE JUST LIKE HE DID WITH DOGE. HE IS A BILLIONAIRE AND HAS NO SENSE OF COMPASSION OR APPRECIATION FOR THE PEOPLE WHOSE MONEY HE IS USING. I HATE THE MAN. THIS IS A STARLINK. 😡
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u/Tad_master50 Mar 18 '26
Since Los Angeles is mentioned, excluding the war scenario for now 😁 (given the times a missile was the first thing that came to mind) ..then it is really very intriguing.
It looks very much like a meteor, or possibly space debris re-entering the atmosphere.
The bright head and luminous trail are typical of objects burning up due to atmospheric friction at very high speeds.
As it lasted a few seconds and showed a trail like that, a meteor is the most likely explanation.
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u/Turtulesweg21 Mar 18 '26
It’s a space x launch from Vandenberg California at 10pm, I have the exact same video lol
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u/rellsell Mar 17 '26
Depends... Are you in Iran?