Hundreds of people posted to social media videos of the event, which shows a group of bright objects moving across the night sky. In addition, the angle of impact can be very steep…which can incinerate the object quickly. Meteors, on the contrary, can easily reach the top of atmosphere at speeds greater than 45,000 mph. If the angle is too small, they risk 'skimming' the atmosphere like a stone on water. SpaceX says the Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth and landed as planned on its ocean-going barge off the coast of Florida. The Times reports the rocket delivered Starlink satellites, built in Redmond, Washington, into orbit earlier this week. There were no reports of damage or impact on the ground. The National Weather Service in Seattle said in a tweet the phenomenon was caused by debris from a Falcon 9 rocket 2nd stage that did not successfully have a “deorbit burn.” People were surprised across the Pacific Northwest to see a fireball light up the night sky at around 9 p.m.
