What was that light in the Texas sky Sunday night?

Did you see a strange light in the skies over Texas on Sunday night? You were likely looking at a SpaceX rocket sending new satellites into the sky.

East Texans took to social media Sunday night to post videos and pictures of a strange light moving through the skies; some reported seeing it vanish. Some joked about or wondered whether it was a UFO.

In reality, it was likely a SpaceX rocket. Around 4:35 p.m. Central time on Sunday, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The rocket was launching 23 new satellites into the sky, according to space.com.

The rocket itself emits a bright light, and so does the process of rocket stages burning up as they reenter Earth’s atmosphere. The first stage of the rocket returns to earth for reuse, while the second burns up upon reentry, according to reporting by cnet.com. 

SpaceX, the brainchild of entrepreneur Elon Musk, already has launched three rockets this year and aims to launch 144, space.com reported. Its launches have been highly publicized, though perhaps not as much as the aftermath: the subsequent celestial illumination, which has created considerable social media chatter and news coverage.

On Sunday, Longview resident David Salazar took a video with his phone of the celestial-looking object, and his wife posted it to a Longview community Facebook page. 

«I thought, ‘Whoa, what’s that?'» Salazar said, recalling when he first saw the light. «Immediately after, I saw the ‘boom.’ It shot towards the right and then slingshot back to the left quickly. Then it faded into a poof of smoke.»

Salazar said he’s doing his own research to figure out what it is he saw. He’s comparing what he saw with other videos.

«I have seen unidentified flying objects before,» he said. «Nothing like this. Always interesting to look up at the sky.»

This isn’t the first time one of those rockets has caused a stir in the Lone Star State or East Texas.

A SpaceX launch in October drew attention in East Texas, prompting some to question whether UFOs were to blame. While folks may not have been able to identify the flying objects on their own, the light sightings were confirmed to be those of a SpaceX rocket, according to the National Weather Service and CBS 19 meteorologist Bretty Anthony.

Here’s a photo gallery of a SpaceX launch in Sept. 22 in Richmond, Virginia, that contains lights similar to those seen in East Texas.