A bright object was observed in the sky over Tashkent: specialists gave a preliminary conclusion
A bright object observed in the sky over Tashkent was said not to be a meteor or bolide. The event may be related to a rocket launched from China.
On the evening of September 19, a very bright object moving across the sky over Tashkent, leaving a long trail behind it, was observed. The event was captured in photos and videos by city residents.
Specialists of the Mirzo Ulugbek Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences conducted a preliminary analysis of the distributed photo and video materials. According to Kamoliddin Ergashev, a senior researcher at the institute, the object's appearance, movement characteristics, and the trail it produced are not characteristic of a meteor or bolide.
According to the specialists' preliminary assessment, the observed event may be related to a rocket or its upper stage.
It is noted that the event coincides with the flight of a Long March-2D (Chang Zheng-2D) launch vehicle launched on September 19 from China's Taiyuan Cosmodrome. This rocket carried four PIESAT-2 series satellites into orbit.
According to preliminary orbital calculations, there is a correspondence between the rocket's launch time, orbit, and the time and direction of the object observed in the sky over Tashkent.
Therefore, for now, the most probable assumption is that the event observed in the sky over Tashkent is related to the rocket stage of this space launch or one of the subsequent orbital processes.
However, specialists emphasize that it is still too early to definitively identify the object as a specific part of the Long March-2D rocket. The necessary elements and independent identification related to the event in international orbital catalogs for newly launched objects are not yet available.
According to the preliminary conclusion of the Astronomical Institute, the bright event observed in the sky over Tashkent is not characteristic of a meteor or bolide.
