BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: The Astronomical Society of Brunei Darussalam (PABD) on Sunday (Oct 18) received dozens of eyewitness reports from across the country regarding the sighting of a prominent high-altitude luminous object traversing the skies over Belait, Tutong, and Brunei-Muara districts between 6.30pm and 6.33pm.
According to PABD, eyewitnesses across several locations provided detailed descriptions of the phenomenon.
Fathin Khairunnisa, who observed the event while exiting the Jerudong Park Foodcourt heading towards the Tutong-Muara highway, reported seeing a fast-flying object moving upward to the left before disappearing behind thick cloud cover.
She noted that the object possessed a vibrant red core transitioning into a blue and green tail, moving noticeably slower than a typical meteor but significantly faster than standard commercial aircraft, adding that she initially thought it was a military craft, UFO or space debris.
Additional reports came in from across the Sultanate, including Zaidah Mardani, who spotted the object outside a department store in Gadong around 6.30pm, describing a shooting star-like appearance with a distinct fume tail moving left and disappearing into cloud cover.
Zulhilmi Zulkifli, 24, recorded the object while facing south at 6.33pm in Jalan Lambak Kanan, Kampong Lambak ‘B’, while Shahreena observed the bright fireball-like object towards the south-west in Kampong Kilanas at 6.32pm.
Muiz, 19, photographed the object from Sungai Tampoi, Sengkurong, after initially mistaking the glowing streak for an aircraft at 6.32pm before recognising its meteor-like trail with a trailing fragment, while 27-year-old Iz’aan captured video footage in Rasau, Belait, at 6.30pm prior to visible fragmentation.
Other witnesses who documented the event on video included Amal Lemari BN along the Jerudong Highway, Red_R in Kampong Tungku, Nadzirul Asyraf at Tutong Skateboard Park, Saddam Bakir at Tutong Civic Centre, and student Raziq Adaniy in Kampong Mata-Mata, who recorded the prolonged path across the evening twilight sky.
PABD shared that video recordings provided by eyewitnesses confirmed several flight characteristics indicative of artificial orbital space debris re-entering the atmosphere. Unlike natural meteors that burn out within one to two seconds, the object maintained continuous visual emission for 20 to 30 seconds across a wide angular path.
Its low angular velocity, steady shallow-angle trajectory, intense red-orange thermal glow, trailing spark fragments, and persistent smoke trail strongly pointed to upper-atmosphere break-up and re-entry of man-made rocket hardware.
Preliminary orbital tracking data identified the object as ZQ-2E R/B (NORAD 101070), a spent Zhuque-2E rocket body launched on October 14, 2026.
Tracked by The Aerospace Corporation’s Centre for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies (CORDS), the high-altitude rocket stage passed directly over the region during its predicted uncontrolled atmospheric re-entry window on October 18, 2026, above 170 kilometres based on calculated satellite tracking and orbital mechanics Two-Line Element Set (TLE) data.
Video footage indicated that the hardware underwent extensive thermal fragmentation and vaporisation high in the upper atmosphere.
Following local observations, PABD relayed eyewitness reports and submitted video recordings to the International Astronomical Centre (IAC), an official scientific centre based in Abu Dhabi, for review and analysis through its Satellite Reentry Monitoring Programme.
After examining the data, the IAC confirmed that the luminous object observed over Brunei was the atmospheric re-entry of a nearly five-tonne Chinese rocket stage.
The rocket body, operated by private aerospace company LandSpace, was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center to deploy satellites into orbit.
Weighing approximately 5,000 kilogrammes, the spent rocket stage remained in orbit for four days before atmospheric drag caused gradual orbital decay and eventual re-entry over Brunei on October 18, 2026.
The IAC noted that while intense thermal energy caused the stage to glow brightly and disintegrate into multiple luminous fragments along the same trajectory, it is not possible to confirm complete burn-out of all components without additional information, as heat-resistant parts can occasionally survive atmospheric transit. - Borneo Bulletin/ANN
