JAKARTA - The National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) has revealed the phenomenon of a luminous object seen in the sky of several regions of Indonesia on Saturday, April 11. The light is confirmed to come from the trail of a Chinese rocket launch.
This phenomenon was shocking to the public in Lampung, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Bali, NTB, to NTT around 18.40 WIB or 19.40 Wita and was widely discussed through a number of social media uploads.
National Research and Innovation Agency's Senior Expert Researcher in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Thomas Djamaluddin, explained that the luminous object came from the launch of a Chinese rocket of the Smart Dragon-3 (Jielong-3) type.
"The light seen in the sky is the trail of the Jielong-3 rocket that is heading for orbit. The tail of light comes from the rocket's gas blast when it crosses the upper atmosphere into space," Thomas said in his statement, Tuesday, April 14.
According to Thomas, the rocket was launched at 18.32 WIB from a sea-based launch system in the Yangjiang coastal area, Guangdong, China. The trajectory of the rocket crossing Indonesian territory made the phenomenon visible from various areas.
He added that the Jielong-3 rocket is a solid-fuel rocket that can reach an altitude of about 500 kilometers. In this mission, the rocket is used to carry an internet satellite into a sun-synchronous orbit.
The phenomenon of light that appears to be curved and elongated in the night sky is a visual effect of rocket exhaust gas that reflects sunlight in the upper atmosphere. This makes the gas bursts still look bright even though it is night on Earth.
Thomas also emphasized that this phenomenon is different from the incident in early April 2026 which was seen in the Indonesian sky.
"What happened on April 4, 2026 was the fall of space debris in the form of old rocket remnants of the CZ-3B type, while what is visible on April 11, 2026 is a rocket that is being launched, not a falling object," he said.
He explained that space debris is usually seen breaking apart and burning when entering the atmosphere, while rocket launches display a burst of gas interacting with the upper atmosphere.
"This phenomenon is not dangerous for the community and is part of global astronautical activities that can occasionally be observed from Indonesian territory, especially if the launch trajectory crosses this area," he continued.
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