A mysterious object that appeared in the sky over Tunisia on August 8th has become the talk of social media, after the strange shape of this object caused confusion among followers, especially since the official authorities did not intervene with a decisive statement to remove that confusion.
The observed object has a huge cylindrical shape and emits a faint, regular green light. It appears to be an unusual shape, and the initial explanation was that it was "space debris returning to the atmosphere."
This opinion was based on a recent incident, in which a bright object was also observed in the sky of Tunisia four months ago, specifically on April 20, crossing the sky of Sousse in Tunisia. Initial analyses suggested it was a meteorite explosion, before the American Meteorological Society analyzed the event and concluded that it was space debris returning to the atmosphere.
The association based its analysis at the time on the fact that the object, which appeared moving from the southeast towards the northwest, was relatively slow, comparable to the speed of an airplane or slightly faster, and remained visible for about a minute, which is an unusually long time for a meteorite explosion.
During its trajectory, this object broke apart into several bright fragments, all glowing intensely as if they were burning in the atmosphere. No sound or explosion was heard during or after the disintegration, no distinctive colors were observed, and the light appeared mostly bright white.
Based on its slow speed, long duration, and pattern of disintegration, the American Meteorological Society concluded that it was space debris re-entering the atmosphere, not a meteorite explosion.
The summons did not last long.
Some invoked this interpretation of the old event, suggesting that it might be valid to explain the incident of the new object that appeared on August 8. However, this did not last long, as the two events were quickly compared, and this comparison ruled out the space debris scenario, based on the fact that the observed object appeared connected and maintained a regular geometric appearance throughout the observation period, while space debris enters the atmosphere at a tremendous speed, heats up intensely, and then the object begins to disintegrate, glow, and split into fragments.
The new event was also observed in large areas of Tunisia, while the object that appeared in April was only observed in the city of Sousse, and lasted for only about 45 seconds.
Based on this comparison, it was suggested that the object was one of the “Starlink” satellites, and this interpretation was supported by the Tunisian Astronomical Society, which explained in a statement that the known pattern of launching satellites belonging to “SpaceX” and dedicated to communications is similar to what was observed in the sky of Tunisia.
The association explained that when these satellites are launched, they are gathered in a swarm or in groups of swarms for a specific period of time, before being distributed at different altitudes according to programmed orbits, to later disperse in space. This is consistent with the images observed in Tunisia, which showed that the observed object is not a solid object, but rather consists of dozens of bright points moving in a swarm and at a great speed, which is consistent with the characteristics of a batch of satellites that were recently launched.
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