Nope, not Santa
December 26, 2011
The mysterious trail of bright light observed above Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and France on Christmas Eve was the re-entry of the third stage of a Soyuz rocket that transported three astronauts to space, according to the Royal Observatory of Belgium.
The observatory said Sunday that the rocket, which is to carry Oleg Kononenko of Russia, Andre Kuipers of the Netherlands and Don Pettit of the United States to the International Space Station, lifted off on Wednesday from Kazakhstan's Baikonour space center.
Santa with a moose?
At about 5:30 p.m. local time on Christmas Eve, witnesses in Germany said they saw three spots moving across the horizon trailing streaks of light behind them. The phenomenon lasted much longer than a typical shooting star.
Some excited witnesses told reporters that it looked like several shooting stars bunched together.
One listener told the Antenne Thueringen radio station: "Very nice, it was very impressive."
Another said: "We saw the light spectacle on the way home from church. Our daughter thought it was Santa Claus' coach with a moose."
Author: Matt Zuvela, Gabriel Borrud (dpa, AFP)
Editor: Ben Knight