MANCHESTER, N.H. —

Several Granite Staters reported seeing a streaky spiral in the sky Tuesday night.

There were sightings in Jaffrey, Pittsfield, Laconia, Salem, Concord and other New Hampshire communities.

WMUR Chief Meteorologist Mike Haddad said the spiral is believed to have been caused by the Ariane 6 rocket launch from South America.

The rocket launched just after 4 p.m. from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

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Aboard the rocket was the Sentinel-1D satellite, launched into orbit to capture high-resolution images of Earth's surface.

According to the European Space Agency, those images help disaster response teams, environment agencies, maritime authorities and climate scientists.

The

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