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Rising lights over Popocatépetl: what did the volcano webcam record on the Day of the Dead?

4 min read

On the night of November 2, a camera monitoring Mexico’s Popocatépetl volcano recorded several points of light that appeared to climb through the sky. The lights start from the volcano’s summit, and the brightest of them trails a cloud-like plume. There is no official explanation.

What happened?

On November 3, the site Webcams de México posted footage recorded the previous night, November 2, by a camera that monitors the Popocatépetl volcano. The camera sits at the Tlamacas monitoring station in the state of Puebla. The video shows several points and streaks of light moving upward in the sky near the volcano.

The post asked followers whether it could be space debris or something else. The footage quickly spread on social media. Because it was recorded on Mexico's Day of the Dead, some viewers suggested UFOs, while others thought of returning souls.

What does the footage show?

In the footage, the volcano's slope and the starry sky stay still throughout, so the camera did not move. On the right edge of the frame, near the crater, light flares up from time to time and a white cloud billows upward.

Bright points of light then rise from behind the ridge. The middle, brightest one trails a cloud-like plume that widens upward, while the smaller lights just beside and slightly below it move along with it without a plume. The lights drift up and to the left and leave the frame. Meanwhile, several white bands of cloud also rise from the direction of the crater.

The website of the US radio show Coast to Coast AM described three lights climbing in a triangular formation. The Mexican reports are more cautious: they mention several glowing shapes but no formation. None of the sources gives the exact time of the recording. One copy of the video was uploaded to YouTube on November 2 at 11:37 p.m. local time.

The volcano that day

Popocatépetl was at Yellow Phase 2 of the volcanic alert system at the time. According to the November 2 report from Mexico's National Center for Disaster Prevention (CENAPRED), the volcano produced 60 low-intensity exhalations and 29 minutes of tremor over the previous 24 hours. The report did not link the volcano's activity to the lights in the sky.

Not the first time

Cameras watch Popocatépetl around the clock, so they often capture things passing through the sky. According to a roundup by Eje Central, earlier flashes of this kind were attributed to meteors, satellites, distant airliners or animals passing close to the lens. Those explanations, however, applied to other recordings, not this one.

The sober take

What is certain

On the night of November 2, the Tlamacas camera recorded several points of light rising above Popocatépetl. The brightest of them trails a cloud-like plume.
The lights start from the direction of the volcano's summit, while light flares up near the crater.
No official explanation has been given so far. CENAPRED did not connect the lights to the volcano's activity.

What is not established

How far away the lights were and how large they were. According to CENAPRED, footage from night cameras does not always allow an object's size or distance to be determined.
That they moved in a triangular formation. Only the website of a US radio show said so; the Mexican reports did not.

Strengths and weaknesses of the explanations

Volcanic activity: the lights start from the summit, appear after flares near the crater, and the brightest of them trails a cloud-like plume. This suggests they may be gas or ash clouds rising from the crater, or material thrown out with them. CENAPRED recorded 60 low-intensity exhalations that day. However, the agency has not commented on the footage, so no one has confirmed this explanation.
Satellites: Mexican experts raised Starlink trains as a possibility. But satellites move steadily, without a plume, and do not emerge from behind the volcano.
A rocket launch: the exhaust plume of a rocket launched at twilight can draw a similar bright point with a trailing cloud. A launch from Vandenberg, California (USSF-432) was scheduled for that evening, but it was postponed and only lifted off on November 6. A rocket would also follow a single path rather than emerge from behind the volcano.
Particles in front of the lens: the small, elongated specks across the rest of the frame match what CENAPRED describes: insects or dust passing close to the lens show up as bright points on night-camera images. This does not explain the plume-trailing light.

Open question

Based on the footage, the lights originate from the volcano, so CENAPRED's volcanologists would be best placed to say what the camera recorded. The uncut, time-stamped footage would also show how many minutes the scene took. Until such an assessment is made, the case remains open, though the volcanic explanation is the strongest candidate.

What was that?

A row of lights in the sky? It may be a Starlink satellite train