12 March 2024 A large swirl of white light that temporarily outshone vibrant auroras in the Arctic last week was triggered by the death throes of a SpaceX rocket that deployed more than 50 satellites into space. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. A large swirl of white light, known as a "SpaceX spiral" was photographed during an aurora display above Iceland last week. (Image credit: Shang Yang) A massive swirl of bright white light seemingly appeared from out of nowhere in the night sky above the Arctic last week, briefly upstaging a vibrant aurora display that spanned thousands of miles. The ethereal, galaxy-shaped light show was caused by an illuminated cloud of frozen fuel that was dumped in space by a SpaceX rocket, which released dozens of satellites into low-Earth orbit. Astronomers call this rare phenomenon a "SpaceX spiral," and expect them to become a much more common sight in the future. You may like