✓ Link copied to clipboard! A dazzling fireball that illuminated the night sky over multiple U.S. states this weekend was captured on camera and has been identified as a SpaceX Starlink satellite making its fiery return to Earth. The spectacular event, which occurred on Saturday, November 9, just after 10:00 p.m. Central Standard Time, captivated witnesses across Colorado, Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma. The American Meteor Society documented 36 separate reports of the bright fireball, with most sightings concentrated around the Oklahoma City and Dallas-Fort Worth areas. What initially appeared to be a meteor has been identified as Starlink-4682, one of 54 satellites launched by SpaceX in 2022 as part of the Starlink 4-23 mission. Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who tracks spacecraft, confirmed that the satellite's reentry path tracked "over Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and Oklahoma" in a post on X (formerly Twitter). (Main) File image of Starlink satellites visible in the sky near Salgotarjan, Hungary, Nov. 25, 2019 and (inset) a Starlink satellite burning up in the atmosphere on Nov. 9, 2024. Dozens of people across several... (Main) File image of Starlink satellites visible in the sky near Salgotarjan, Hungary, Nov. 25, 2019 and (inset) a Starlink satellite burning up in the atmosphere on Nov. 9, 2024. Dozens of people across several states reported seeing the fireball zip across the sky as the satellite broke up on reentry. More Peter Komka/alli ortega/MTI via AP/American Meteor Society Newsweek contacted SpaceX via email outside of business hours for comment. Witnesses described the event in vivid detail to the American Meteor Society. "Best sighting ever!" reported Kevin W. from McKinney, Texas, while another observer in Canton, Texas, shared their childlike excitement: "For some reason I felt excited when I saw it. Like a kid again. Most amazing thing I've seen in a really long time." Multiple witnesses observed the satellite breaking apart during reentry. A resident of Argyle, Texas, described how it "went directly over our head and we could see it breaking up as it traveled directly over us." Another witness in Norman, Oklahoma, noted that it "exploded into many many pieces" with some fragments continuing to burn as they flew overhead. "That thing was huge," wrote an awestruck observer from Apache, Oklahoma. As SpaceX continues its regular launches of Starlink satellites, scientists are raising concerns about the environmental impact of these frequent reentries. When these satellites burn up in Earth's atmosphere, they release aluminum oxide, which could potentially damage the ozone layer and affect the atmosphere's ability to reflect sunlight. "Spacecraft reentries are changing the upper atmosphere," Aaron Boley, an associate professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of British Columbia, Canada, previously told Newsweek. "This presents a challenge that must be addressed as humanity continues to access, explore and use space." Currently, there are more than 7,000 Starlink objects in orbit, according to the satellite tracking service Orbiting Now. Most have a lifetime in the region of five years and are brought out of orbit to burn up in the atmosphere. "Truly addressing the satellite pollution problem will require tough choices concerning total rates of mass being deposited into the atmosphere," Boley told Newsweek. Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about Starlink? Let us know via science@newsweek.com. \ \ Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground. \ \ \ ';uncommonKnowledgeItems[0].insertAdjacentHTML('afterend',uncommonKnowledgeContainerHtml);let uncommonKnowledgeContainerElement=document.getElementsByClassName('uncommon-knowledge');let itemsContainerElement=document.getElementById('uncommon-knowledge-items-container');uncommonKnowledgeContainerElement[0].style.display='block';uncommonKnowledgeItems.forEach((itemUncommon)=>{document.getElementById('uncommon-knowledge-items-container').insertAdjacentHTML('beforeend','