Bright spiral object appears in the sky above Russia

Residents of several Russian and European cities spotted a bright spiral in the sky and shared photos on social media.

Photo: spaceweathergallery2.com by Bettina Begtoft, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

SpaceX spiral

According to preliminary reports, the phenomenon was caused by a Falcon 9 rocket launched by SpaceX, which carried the US NROL-69 satellite into low Earth orbit. The spiral appears to have formed after the rocket’s upper stage was jettisoned, began spinning, and released residual fuel.

Similar spirals have been observed before, such as in 2022, when a Falcon 9 rocket launched the Italian COSMO-SkyMed satellite into orbit.

Details

As of 21 March 2025 rockets from the Falcon 9 family have been launched 465 times, with 462 full mission successes, three failures, and one partial failure. Designed and operated by SpaceX, the Falcon 9 family includes the retired versions Falcon 9 v1.0, v1.1, and v1.2 "Full Thrust" (blocks 3 and 4), along with the active Block 5 evolution. Falcon Heavy is a heavy-lift derivative of Falcon 9, combining a strengthened central core with two Falcon 9 first stages as side boosters.