Blue spiral in the sky: aliens, rockets or just a joke?

Blue spiral in the sky: aliens, rockets or just a joke?

On March 25, 2025, a bluish spiral was observed in the night sky across much of Europe, including Austria. This phenomenon gave rise to numerous theories and speculations among readers. While some expressed humorous theories about superheroes and a possible alien invasion, experts suspect that the spiral was caused by a rocket launch that dumped excess fuel. This drained fuel freezes and crystallizes, resulting in the striking visible effect. On Monday there was also the launch of a SpaceX rocket, which is associated with the phenomenon 5min.at reported.

Sightings of the blue spiral have been reported across Europe. In particular, the chairman of the Salzkammergut Astronomical Working Group explained that the rocket's trajectory made the phenomenon visible over large areas. This is not the first time such an event has been observed; There have been similar sightings in Hawaii and Alaska.

Rocket launches and their effects

The current incident also raises questions about the ecological impact of rocket launches on the climate. Rockets have a greater impact on the atmosphere than is often assumed. They produce harmful nitrogen oxides that contribute to the depletion of the ozone layer and accelerate global warming. Although the volume of space flights is currently considered to be low, there are signs of a strong increase due to the emerging space tourism. Companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are set to revolutionize the space sector, raising significant environmental concerns such as nau.ch indicates.

Scientists estimate that in just three years, space tourism could produce twice as many climate-damaging emissions as all previous scientific space missions combined. This shows that rocket launches are often incorrectly compared to aviation emissions, even though the climate impacts are drastically different. Soot particles from rockets warm the earth in the stratosphere about 500 times more effectively than those from near the ground. Although rockets only cause 0.02 percent of global soot emissions, they are responsible for 6 percent of global warming from soot.

Although research is important to astronomers, some scientists are thinking about how their work can be made more climate-friendly. The CO2 footprint per astronomer is estimated to be around 36.6 tonnes of CO2 equivalent, while nature can only compensate for around two tonnes of CO2 per person per year. The corona pandemic has shown that personal meetings can often be replaced by video conferences. This could also be an approach in the scientific community to reduce CO2 emissions.