A "strange moon-like object" was spotted in the night sky above the Indian Ocean Sunday, and many spectators believed that the fuzzy-looking orb was actually another UFO sighting.
According to GrindTV, a strange glowing orb hovering high over the Indian Ocean ignited reports on UFO mystery from several islands including Mauritius and Reunion and even throughout various places in South Africa. Several spectators told the media that the glowing orb was far from being normal, adding that it was a UFO spying on the humans from afar.
In a report by the Zimbabwe Mail, the mysterious believed-to-be UFO sighting was described as a "strange moon-like object" that, based on observations, was a lot bigger than the moon and it was rapidly traveling from east to north.
Meanwhile, a report from French-owned Mauritius paper, L'Express, speculated that the bizarre pale orb was either a star cluster or a satellite that was made visible because of the dark night.
But after a few more reports and speculations that the orb was a UFO sighting, NBC News clarified that the alleged UFO was simply a product of the California launching of a Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX, a private spaceflight company.
"[The sphere was] propellant or rocket fuel coming from the rocket itself," Retired Cape Town Astronomer Greg Roberts said.
Roberts then explained to The New Age that "shortly after 7 p.m. [the rocket] apparently either vented or released rocket fuel still in its fuel tanks as the basic mission of placing several satellites in orbit had been achieved while over the Antarctic region," adding "And this produced the large halo-like object that people saw."
GrindTV clarified that the visible glow was simply due to the sun's setting rays underneath the part of the orbit, where the rocket passed while releasing its satellites.
"This sort of phenomenon has been seen many times before-and the bottom line is that you can expect an uptick in UFO reports anytime there's a rocket launch, particularly when the rocket is blazing a new trail, like this brand-new breed of Falcon," NBC News Science Editor Alan Boyle said.
Several reports later on revealed that the Falcon 9 rocket was carrying a Canadian weather-tracking satellite and three smaller versions of the same satellite. The rocket was launched from Vandenberg Air Force base, but no exact time was provided.
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