“Mysterious Blaze in Louisiana Skies: A Comet, Santa, or Something Else?”

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – Numerous accounts and footage of a blazing trail observed in the skies above southern Louisiana left many in speculation about what they had experienced on Saturday night. Was it a comet? Santa on a trial run? Or could it be something entirely different? The trail is clearly visible in this clip provided by WAFB viewer Montrice Davis.

As of late Saturday night, there is no formal conclusion, but my informed assumption is that the trail was ‘space debris’. This might prompt you to ask, what constitutes space debris? According to NASA, this is their statement regarding space debris:

“There are millions of fragments of space debris orbiting in LEO. Most orbital debris consists of human-made items, such as fragments of spacecraft, small particles of paint from a spacecraft, rocket components, defunct satellites, or remnants of objects in orbit that have exploded while traveling through space at high velocities.”

The American Meteor Society keeps a register of ‘fireball’ observations, or luminous meteors. Although my strongest suspicion is that the trail witnessed on Saturday night was space debris and not a meteor, the AMS site indicates it was seen across several southern states, spanning from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, potentially reaching as far north as Tennessee.

Did you witness the blazing trail on Saturday night? Share your images and videos on 9Reports.

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