Hundreds of stargazers reported fireballs in the southeastern US earlier this week. But this is not a natural phenomenon—another case of dead satellites littering Earth’s orbit.

Fireworks from a defunct Chinese satellite re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on Saturday night and caught fire in New Orleans, Louisiana. The re-entry of the satellite resulted in bright streaks in the skies of several states, including Missouri, Arkansas, and Mississippi, according to reports shared online. Although the satellite poses no threat to observers, its uncontrolled entry highlights the need for better regulation of nonoperational space junk.

🚨Update: China’s surveillance satellite has entered Earth’s atmosphere over New Orleans, Louisiana!pic.twitter.com/UGyp8Tx5dz

— US Civil Defense News (@CaptCoronado) December 22, 2024

The American Meteor Society received 152 witnesses reports of fireball sightings around 11 pm ET on December 22, but dismissed the event as “not a real fireball.” Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell later identified the source of the fireball as the Chinese imaging satellite SuperView 1-02, which re-entered New Orleans before heading north, he WRITES in X.

History of the height of the orbit of GJ1-02, the Chinese sat that returned to the US last night pic.twitter.com/RrjEncYdvF

– Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) December 22, 2024

SuperView 1-02 is operated by Beijing-based company SpaceView, and was launched in December 2016 as one of two satellites belonging to a constellation for civilian remote sensing. The two satellites are China’s first high-resolution Earth imaging satellites, according to Space.com. They were initially placed in the wrong orbit, ending up in an elliptical orbit instead of a circle, and had to gradually raise their orbit over time to begin their mission.

SuperView 1-02 was decommissioned about two years ago, and was left to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere in an uncontrolled manner. Some satellite operators have equipped spacecraft with the ability to perform a controlled entry to minimize the risk, but China is known for bad orbital behavior. The South China Morning Post downplayed the incident, report that the re-entry of the satellite “created a spectacular light show but no real danger,” adding that the “event was unintentional.”

Defunct satellites orbiting the Earth are at serious risk of collision with other spacecraft. There are more than 27,000 pieces of orbital debris so far traced of the Department of Defense’s Global Space Surveillance Network, which has many smaller pieces as well floating around unnoticed. Moving around at high speed, even small pieces of material, such as micrometeoroidscan damage active spacecraft in orbit.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is developing ways to improve spacecraft re-entry capabilities to help reduce orbital debris. the Harmful Reentry Assessment Container Object (DRACO)launched in 2027, a satellite designed to gather data during its re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere after a short-lived mission. A better understanding of the science of reentry will help scientists design future spacecraft that don’t risk damaging other space engines if they are decommissioned.