The remains of a Chinese rocket light up the sky over southeastern Spain after re-entering the atmosphere.

A large halo of fire lit up the sky over several towns in southeastern Spain on Sunday night. It was the remains of a Chinese Jielong-3 rocket, launched on August 8, which disintegrated upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, according to the Bolide and Meteorite Research Network (SPMN), part of the CSIC. "The reentry and progressive fragmentation of spacecraft is a phenomenon that can last for minutes, characterized by their long, low-level trajectories, with multiple pieces," the institution published in X.

Several social media users shared images capturing the exact moment of reentry, which, according to SPMN, is a very difficult phenomenon to witness and quite unusual due to its magnitude. In this case, experts estimate it was visible from Andalusia, Aragon, Castilla-La Mancha, the Community of Madrid, the Basque Country, La Rioja, Navarre, and the Region of Murcia.

The explanation behind this phenomenon is as follows: when a space object, such as a rocket fragment, returns to Earth at high speed, friction with the atmosphere generates extreme temperatures that burn and wear away its surface in a process known as ablation. At the same time, the intense heat breaks the material into dozens of smaller pieces and causes the air and the object to become charged with energy. When this energy is suddenly released, bright flashes appear in the sky.

Naturally, it's usually a very visual spectacle, nothing like the meteor showers typical at this time of year . "[The images] could very well be reminiscent of a science fiction movie. That's why it's so important to rationally explain these phenomena," the network explains.

Astronomer Jonathan McDowell, recognized by the SPMN, explained on X that China launched the Jielong-3 rocket to put satellites into orbit. This type of rocket has several parts or stages that are detached one after the other as it ascends. The fourth stage is the last one that remains active and, in this case, it was not destroyed immediately, but remained circling the Earth in a very low orbit. This is done intentionally so that the piece does not remain circling as space junk for years.

Being so low, friction with the atmosphere gradually slowed it down until that stage re-entered the atmosphere and burned up over Spain, causing the luminous phenomenon.