Electron rocket's plume seen clearly in Otago sky

Mosgiel resident Finn Carter holds his photo of a Rocket Lab electron rocket, flying into orbit above Saddle Hill on Tuesday night. Photo / Peter McIntosh

It was not a plane, a meteor or Santa that flew over Otago earlier in the week but an electron rocket, Dunedin observatory astronomer Ian Griffin confirmed yesterday.

The electron rocket seen by residents on Tuesday night was launched by Rocket Lab from its New Zealand launch pad on Mahia Peninsula.

Rocket Lab's website said it was the aerospace company's 17th mission, and was used to launch an Earth-imaging satellite into orbit for Japanese company Synspective.

It was called The Owl's Night Begins and was launched at 11.09pm on Tuesday.

The satellite is a synthetic aperture radar (Sar), developed to be able to image millimetre-level changes to the Earth's surface from space, independent of weather conditions on Earth and at any time of the day or night.

It is the first of a series of satellite deployments for Synspective's planned constellation of more than 30 Sar small satellites, which will collate data of metropolitan centres across Asia on a daily basis.

It will be used for urban development planning, construction and infrastructure monitoring, and disaster response.

The launch was seen by many across Otago, including Griffin.

"It's the first stage of the rocket going up into space, and the plume from the engine is what you can see.

"You can see it so clearly because, while it's dark on the ground, the rocket is high enough that it's lit by the sun."

Mosgiel resident Finn Carter managed to capture an image of the rocket on his new mobile phone, as it passed overhead.

"I thought 'what the hell is that'. I turned around and there was this big glowing thing in the sky, moving real quick.

"So I pulled my phone out and took a photo, put it online to see if anyone could say what it was."

Like many who saw it, he thought it was a meteor.

St Kilda resident and astrophotographer Andrew Clark also thought it was a large meteor.

"It's definitely one out of the books.

"I've been an astronomer for 40-odd years and I've never seen anything like it."

Clark said he was just leaving his house about 11.20pm to do some astrophotography when he saw the spectacle out of the corner of his eye.

He said it was visible for about a minute.

"Basically I only had a few seconds to take some snaps before it disappeared.

"It was quite impressive."