“Not a missile; preliminary analysis suggests the object was very likely space debris from a rocket burning as it descended through Earth’s atmosphere,” Ricko Kardoso, head of BMKG’s Malang Geophysics Station, said in Malang on Sunday.
He said the man-made phenomenon displayed characteristics of a so-called “space jellyfish,” in which rocket exhaust plumes reflect sunlight and form a luminous trail across the sky.
“The space jellyfish effect appears as stretched light, creating an elongated plume tail. This phenomenon is often linked to rockets such as China’s Long March CZ-3B, whose exhaust reflects sunlight at high altitude against a dark sky,” Kardoso said.
He added that similar sightings have occurred periodically across Indonesia, including in Lampung on April 4 and in Natuna, Riau Islands, on April 9 this year.
Kardoso said such events are more likely to be visible near the equator, where many satellites orbit and where space debris can reenter the atmosphere.
He urged the public not to panic if they observe similar phenomena in the future.
The glowing object was reported over the skies of Slorok Village in Kromengan Subdistrict on Saturday (April 11), based on an amateur video posted on Instagram by the account @malang_kidulan.
“Residents of southern Malang were left puzzled by a celestial phenomenon suspected to be a missile at 6:46 p.m. local time. As seen in the video, the object was moving fast along a horizontal track at a long distance,” the caption read.
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Translator: Ananto P, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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