On December 30, a mysterious 1,100-pound object in the shape of a massive, 8-f00t metal ring was discovered in a remote Kenyan village, prompting widespread speculation it had fallen from space.

The risk of rogue rocket debris and other man-made space junk colliding with planes is a growing challenge that’s only going ...

It seems the separation ring may have been orbiting Earth for 16 years before making its unexpected appearance in Mukuku. This is not the first incident of space junk appearing in East Africa.

The primary space junk suspect was last spotted on December 23, a week before the metal ring was recovered in Kenya, as Langbroek notes in a Wednesday blog post. "As this is a very low inclination ...