The flaming object swept across the night sky over the United Arab Emirates at about 7:30 pm on Monday 16 October 2017. Frightened residents, perplexed, tried to understand what it was - a meteorite or the falling Chinese space station "Tiangong-1" (see video below).
Last year, the Chinese authorities admitted they had lost control of an 8-ton space station dubbed the "Heavenly Palace." It is expected to hit the ground between October 2017 and April 2018.
“It happened last night around 7:30 pm and I was chatting with a friend. We looked into the sky and saw something was burning there,”said James, a 41-year-old Abu Dhabi resident who grabbed his phone and started filming what was racing across the sky without even thinking about what it was.
According to an eyewitness, the burning object was too bright to be a meteor.
“I read about the Tiangon-1 satellite, which will burn up in the Earth's atmosphere this year. I think it could have been him, James suggested. "Whatever it was, it fell apart."
However, the Astronomy Group in Dubai told local news that the facility is most likely the Progress freighter used to supply the International Space Station.
Voronina Svetlana