A strange object was seen drifting across the sky over the Peace Region Tuesday night, leaving many residents wondering what it could be.
A viewer sent CJDC-TV News a video of the strange shape in the sky. Annie Wile says she was walking her dog around 10:30 p.m. when she noticed a triangular object travelling at a fair speed.
The footage shows a bright object appearing to be moving laterally across a dark, clear sky.
The sighting adds to other reports across the province, but there are still no answers as to what the object is.
CJDC-TV News asked Environment Canada, but so far, it does not know what the object is. Meteorologists say the moving shape does not resemble any known weather phenomenon.
Nick Proach, founder of SpaceModel Museum in Dawson Creek, says the object could be debris from a SpaceX rocket launched in California Tuesday night.
Proach says the launch took place just before 9 p.m., with the goal of deploying 24 Starlink satellites. Since Wile’s sighting occurred at 10:30 p.m., he says the timeline could line up.
Proach says he can only speculate on the object’s origin at this time, adding “It’s really hard to say without further investigation.”
However, he says it could be the “spent upper stage” from the SpaceX rocket, or any other related debris.
When a rocket is launched, lower stages lift it out of the atmosphere before detaching. The upper stage then takes over to reach orbit. Once its fuel is used, it becomes “spent” and either remains in orbit as debris or re-enters the atmosphere.
Proach notes the atmosphere is filled with “space junk”, meaning debris can fall back to Earth at any point.
He says the object could have been part of a meteor storm or an errant weather balloon, adding, “This is all sheer speculation on my part.”
British Columbia is considered a hotspot for unidentified flying object activity in Canada. Last year, 131 UFO sightings were reported - the second-highest total in the country.