I missed the spiral show, but I got to see the smoke trail being lit up by the sun soon after.
It's an aborted missile, probably intercontinental, spinning outside the atmosphere. Its fuel spread out while possibly simultaneously being on fire and being lit by sun light over the horizon at high altitude. The big poof, black hole at the end appears to be the missile exploding, or that it traveled into the shadow of sunlight over the horizon.
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(Old Spike)
(Old Spike)
I was actually there when it happened.
I missed the spiral show, but I got to see the smoke trail being lit up by the sun soon after.
It's an aborted missile, probably intercontinental, spinning outside the atmosphere. Its fuel spread out while possibly simultaneously being on fire and being lit by sun light over the horizon at high altitude. The big poof, black hole at the end appears to be the missile exploding, or that it traveled into the shadow of sunlight over the horizon.
Found a video about the effect: