‘Bright, fast-moving star’ will appear along East Coast. NASA has an explanation

UPDATE: The postponed first U.S. Electron rocket launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility has been rescheduled for Sunday, Dec. 18, with a launch window of 6-8 p.m. EST, NASA says. The original story is below.

NASA is alerting people from Maine to northern Georgia that something extraordinary will appear in the dark along the East Coast on Dec. 15.

It will be an Electron rocket — not a UFO.

The fiery streak will be visible for up to three minutes after launch to people in Mid-Atlantic states, as well as eastern Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio.

“For those along the East Coast, weather permitting, you may catch a glimpse of Electron’s flight,” NASA posted on social media.

“From a distance, Electron will appear like a bright, fast-moving star climbing upward through the night sky.”

The launch was supposed to happen Dec. 9 but was postponed due to weather, NASA says.

A launch window of 6 to 8 p.m. has been set at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia.

NASA plans a live webcast, starting about 40 minutes prior to the target take off time on rocketlabusa.com.

It will be the first Rocket Lab Electron to launch from Wallops, and NASA says the 59-foot-tall pillar “will deploy radio frequency monitoring satellites for HawkEye 360.”

Rocket launches from Wallops Flight Facility frequently generate unusual atmospheric effects along the East Coast, including green and violet “spherical clouds.”

The mysterious colors and clouds have been mistaken for UFOs, but they are the result of barium vapors released by multistage rockets, NASA says.

This story was originally published December 12, 2022 at 11:12 AM with the headline "‘Bright, fast-moving star’ will appear along East Coast. NASA has an explanation."