A surprise solar storm lit up the northern lights on May 17 when bits of a “wide” coronal mass ejection hit Earth even though they were supposed to miss us. At the same time, skywatchers saw a bright white streak cutting through the auroras, which turned out to be the fuel dump of a Chinese rocket’s upper stage passing overhead—not the rare STEVE phenomenon it first looked like.
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A surprise solar storm lit up the northern lights on May 17 when bits of a “wide” coronal mass ejection hit Earth even though they were supposed to miss us. At the same time, skywatchers saw a bright white streak cutting through the auroras, which turned out to be the fuel dump of a Chinese rocket’s upper stage passing overhead—not the rare STEVE phenomenon it first looked like.