If you were out and about on Sunday evening, you may have noticed a mysterious object in the sky over Las Vegas. Here’s what you need to know.
Many people in the Las Vegas Valley reported seeing the mystery object streaking across the night sky around 8:45 p.m. on Sunday, June 23. The mystery object appeared like a light leaving a smoke trail behind it.
Several people told local media outlets that they noticed the “unknown object flying across the sky.” Sightings of the mysterious object weren’t just restricted to Las Vegas, either — with reports coming from many places across Southern California, such as San Diego and Los Angeles.
Although one might assume that the mysterious object was connected to reports of extraterrestrials in Las Vegas or a mysterious monolith that appeared on a local hiking trail, the answer is much more mundane — but still cosmic.
The mysterious object was, in fact, a Falcon 9 rocket launched by SpaceX from Vandenberg Space Force Base, which is located in Santa Barbara County in Southern California.
According to SpaceX, the Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg at 8:47 p.m. on Sunday, carrying a payload of 20 Starlink satellites. Along with being visible across the night sky from California to northern Mexico, the launch was also streamed on the SpaceX social media channels.
SpaceX isn’t the only Elon Musk venture to be visible in Las Vegas. Check out this VegasNews coverage of the Vegas Loop, which uses Tesla vehicles to ferry visitors around Sin City without the traffic.
Media credit: Image licensed from Adobe
