At Lightning in a Bottle (LIB) in California, attendees witnessed what appeared to be an extraordinary shooting star streaking across the sky. Reddit users quickly identified the glowing trail as a SpaceX object re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, burning up in a slow and spectacular display.
The festival community responded with a mix of humor and fascination—comments included playful nods to pop culture, from Optimus Prime to Reading Rainbow references, alongside discussions about satellite debris or SpaceX test flights. A few joked about aliens or dubbed it space pollution.
This stunning event adds to a growing pattern of visible space re-entries and launches lighting up California’s night skies:
- In April 2024, a Chinese spacecraft’s re-entry created a bright fireball across central and southern California.
- In January 2025, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch was visible from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles, mesmerizing viewers with its fiery trail carrying 23 Starlink satellites.
These phenomena provide a remarkable intersection of space activity and festival life, offering unexpected celestial entertainment while reminding us of the expanding footprint of space exploration. Public awareness of such events helps the community enjoy and understand these cosmic shows above the festival grounds.
Source: r/festivals