Here’s what caused that incredible light spiral in the sky over Quebec

John Abbott College astronomy professor explains the whirlwind of light in the night sky on Nov. 4, 2025, caused by the Ariane 6 rocket.

Stargazers in Quebec got a unique show on Tuesday night as a spiral of light appeared at around 6 p.m.

The illuminated whirlwind was created by the Ariane 6 rocket launch, which was taking the Copernicus Sentinel-1D satellite to orbit.

“That Ariane 6 rocket is what we’re actually seeing,” said John Abbott College astronomy professor Karim Jaffer.

“When that launches, it enters into a polar orbit, and because of the trajectory, that polar orbit takes it over eastern Canada, so all the way from Newfoundland, New Brunswick, P.E.I., Nova Scotia, coming across Quebec and parts of Ontario.”

Jaffer said that those looking up see a fuel ejection in the upper atmosphere that immediately crystallizes.

“So you get the sunlight that still is able to reflect off of this upper stage of the Ariane 6 rocket, and then reflecting off of all these ice crystals, and it creates this beautiful spiral that appears to have these arms, almost like a spiral Galaxy’s arms,” Jaffer said.

“And it’s moving through the sky very, very slowly because from our perspective, because it’s so high up in altitude, it doesn’t appear to be moving very fast as it enters into that polar orbit,” he said.

“Now, as that fuel crystallizes and that de-fueling stops, those little particles start to separate out. So if you’re in a location where you can watch that part of the process, it actually looks like these little bits of light starting to cascade down from this spiral glitter bomb that’s up there in the night sky.”

Gina Ressler was walking when someone stopped her and asked what was in the sky.

“I had no idea, but I knew Trevor [Kjorlien] at Plateau Astro would know,” she said.

Her picture was shared across social media along with others who noticed the event.

Jaffer said it’s the second time such an event has been viewed.

A different Ariane 6 launch on Aug. 13 caused a similar phenomenon.

He said that the fuel ejection does not add many pollutants to the sky, but that there is concern about the number of satellites going into orbit.

“It’s really useful, but the satellites have to be designed and used in such a way that they don’t pollute our night sky, they don’t prevent us from actually making the observations that we need for the furtherness of science,” said Jaffer.

The chair of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada said that about half of the images astronomers get of the night sky have to be discarded due to satellite trails passing through them.

“These satellites that are incredibly useful, still have to go up there, but we have to manage everything else we put up there to prevent the amount of debris and the amount of objects that we have currently,” he said.

He said that the international agreements and partnerships related to the night sky are important and that it’s important that the increasing number of private space exploration enterprises sign on to them and adhere to the same standards.

“[It] is an incredible area of importance for the international community right now,” said Jaffer.