What's behind it all?

Mysterious light spectacle over southern Germany

What is burning up here? The Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance has now provided an answer.

(Bild: picturedesk.com/Tim Meyer/dpa)

Was that a meteorite? A luminous flying object over Central Europe caused a lot of speculation. It is now clear what caused the light spectacle in the evening sky on Tuesday evening.

Shortly after 9 p.m., the sky over Switzerland, France, southern Germany and western Austria suddenly lit up. Videos of glowing streaks rolling through the night were hastily published on the X platform. Users speculated what the object could be. Some suggested an asteroid or comet.

There were also reports from Switzerland, France and Italy about the mysterious, brightly glowing object. An airplane seemed to be ruled out, as the luminous spectacle was too fast for that, but too slow for a shooting star. As it now turns out: all wrong!

Apparently parts of the satellite burned up
According to the German Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK), a Starlink satellite from southern Germany visibly entered the Earth's atmosphere over Switzerland. The Space Situational Awareness Center of the German Armed Forces had transmitted this information to the BBK, said a spokeswoman for the Federal Office.

A video shows the spectacular streaks of light in the night sky:

Police in various cities in Baden-Württemberg received calls on Tuesday evening from citizens who had observed a flare in the sky. Such calls were received by the police headquarters in Ravensburg, Constance and Stuttgart, for example, according to their spokespersons.

The "Météo Express", a weather service for France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Andorra, also reported: The light spectacle could be seen for 20 minutes in some places and showed the "disintegration of a satellite".

The spectacle could also be observed in Vorarlberg:

Starlink is a satellite network operated by SpaceX that provides access to the internet in very remote regions where the communications infrastructure no longer works. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, SpaceX provided Kiev with thousands of Starlink terminals to ensure the country's internet supply.