Mysterious ‘spiral’ spotted in night sky over Hawaii

A Japanese telescope on top of Hawaii’s tallest mountain caught sight of an enigmatic blue spiral on Jan.18. 

The telescope captured the Hawaii spiral images at the top of Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano in Hawaii. It is located outside the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan’s Subaru telescope. 

Mauna Kea’s summit was home to the best sightseeing conditions for astronomy. It is also a top spot for the world’s most advanced observatories. Hawaiians also respect the summit as a sacred place where gods dwell.

Mysterious spiral soars above Hawaii sky 🌀:
This spiral was captured hovering over Mauna Kea, Hawaii, by the Subaru Telescope. Astronomers report it may be "related to a SpaceX satellite launch." The spirals may be unneeded fuel. pic.twitter.com/3CQXFufxaH

— AccuWeather (@accuweather) January 29, 2023

Researchers believed that the origin of the strange phenomenon is the launch of a military GPS satellite from SpaceX Florida.

The Subaru telescope tweeted, “The Subaru-Asahi Star Camera captured a mysterious flying spiral over Maunakea, Hawaii. It seems to be related to the SpaceX company’s launch of a new satellite.”

In addition, the telescope also has video recordings of the bizarre flying Hawaii spiral. The footage showed that the object started drifting as a small white spiral in the evening sky. Then its shape widens before transforming into a ring shape and disappeared.

A flying spiral was spotted over Hawaii earlier this month. The sighting is likely related to a SpaceX satellite launch. pic.twitter.com/l3AS084NQ5

— NewsNation (@NewsNation) January 28, 2023

A researcher at the observatory stated he was working that night and didn’t notice it until he was notified. A stargazer watching the camera’s live video on YouTube sent him an image of the whirlpool.

Enigmatic Hawaii spiral

Tanaka said, “When I opened Slack, that is what I saw and it was a jaw-dropping event for me.” He shared that he also saw the same spiral last April after a SpaceX launch.

This seems reasonable as SpaceX launched a satellite at 7:24 am on Jan.18. It’s the same day as the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. SpaceX used a Falcon 9 rocket. 

Moreover, this isn’t the first time that SpaceX launch has emitted a mysterious Hawaii spiral in the sky. Another one was spotted in New Zealand’s night sky in June on the same day of the Falcon 9 launch.

The first sighting appeared at the same Florida location. After the launch in April, the Subaru telescope caught a similar image above Hawaii. 

According to online space communities, spirals and other similar formations like the “space jellyfish” appear when rockets emit their leftover fuel. 

Sunlight would then light up this fuel which will create the shapes an individual can see from below. As NPR reported, Subaru Telescope and SpaceX didn’t reply yet for comment. 

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