Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket creates bizarre phenomenon in New Zealand

A strange phenomenon has been spotted over the skies of New Zealand. And it turns out the world’s richest man might be responsible.

Stargazers in New Zealand had a rare treat after a spectacular display was spotted in the sky last night.

A misty spiral formed over the South Island and was sighted by many excited and curious Kiwis around 7.30pm, the New Zealand Herald reports.

Many people took to social media sites Twitter and Facebook to share their photos captured around parts of the South Island including by those in Queenstown and Motueka.

The strange object spotted in New Zealand. Picture: Clare Rehill/Twitter

A person on the Milky Way Chasers New Zealand Facebook page shared stunning images of the phenomenon in an otherwise starry sky over Motueka.

“Just happening around 7.28pm - saw it at Motueka area. It is (still) moving.”

But it seems the phenomenon was man-made.

The New Plymouth Astronomical Society shared an explanation online last night, saying the spiral was most likely caused by a fuel dump from a SpaceX rocket launch.

“Similar effects have been seen before and SpaceX’s Globalstar 2 FM15 was likely to have passed New Zealand around that time,” the society said.

SpaceX has staged three successful Falcon 9 launches over the past two days - carrying a total of 55 satellites into space and putting the heat on rival Rocket Lab as it tries to up its launch frequency.

Hey space twitter, rocket twitter and all other spitters.

These photos were taken from Motueka and Queenstown gardens tonight at 7:30pm - do we have another space agency in NZ apart from Rocket Lab? Cc: @nzspacegovt@[e-mail]/Yl7vWCgETM

— _d.menz 📸 (he/they) (@DigDougDigDig) June 19, 2022

At the other end of the scale, a failed launch by Rocket Lab rival Astra destroyed two NASA satellites last Sunday.

SpaceFlight Now shared an incredible capture of SpaceX hauling its Globalstar communications satellite into orbit early Sunday from Cape Canaveral, in the US, pulling off the third Falcon 9 rocket flight in 36 hours.

A long exposure was used to create this image of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from a launch complex in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Picture: Red Huber/Getty Images/AFP

Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during a press conference at SpaceX's Starbase facility near Boca Chica Village in South Texas. Picture: Jim Watson/AFP

It is said to be the fastest sequence of three missions by any commercial launch company in history.

Last night’s sight comes almost a year to the date after a similar spiral was spotted around the Pacific region last year, on June 18.

That spiral - which was brighter in some parts of the Pacific - was seen in places including Fiji, Samoa, New Caledonia and the small island of Tokelau.

Video footage captured by those lucky enough to see it showed the spiral shape expanding in size over a few seconds before vanishing just as quickly as it appeared.

It was later explained that the koru-like spiral was from a release of gas from a Chinese rocket.

This story was published by the New Zealand Herald and republished with permission.