Watch: Russian space junk burns up over Johannesburg

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Debris believed to be from a Russian rocket created a fiery display in the night sky over Johannesburg late on Sunday evening.

The space junk is understood to be the remains of the upper stage of a Russian SL-4 rocket used in a resupply mission to the International Space Station.

The decaying upper stage has been expected to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere. Sightings occurred shortly before 11pm on Sunday night.

TimesLive reported the sightings earlier on Monday. It quoted Carmel Ives, vice-chairperson of the Astronomical Society of South Africa, as confirming it was from a Russian SL-4 rocket.

“You can tell it is space junk because of the speed at which it moves,” Ives said, adding that meteors travel significantly faster through the atmosphere.

Johannesburg residents from suburbs including Alberton and Midrand posted footage of the incident to social media. The above footage from Alberton was posted by Facebook user Ramiro Jorge.  – © 2022 NewsCentral Media