Sighted Tuesday, May 5th, 2026, was a mysterious blob moving incrementally across the evening sky over Prince George Lheidli T’enneh. It proved hard to focus on, blurry to look at, like some kind of… space ghost. Penetrating the mystery of this interstellar oddity for CFURadio is Malhar Kendurkar, President of the Prince George Astronomical Society, who was also alarmed at the sight of this spectre.

For an astronomer though, this is a familiar sight related to space exploration, colloquially known as a “Space Jellyfish.” While the visibility of this industrial phenomena is unusual, the activity surrounding it no longer is. This dulls the excitement, but Kendurkar explains it is representative of the many inactive human objects in our night sky now interfering with the visibility of other, natural, phenomena.

While the blob still illuminates our imagination, Kendurkar hopes our attention focuses on what it represents, “how polluted our night sky actually has become over the years, and the more satellites we launch, the more debris there will be in our low earth orbit.” Over time this could lead to the Kessler Syndrome, a scenario where there is so much junk smashing around that we can’t get into our orbit without hitting dangerous debris.

Photo taken 2026-05-05.33 UT - Credit: Malhar Kendurkar

Unfortunately, cleaning up the space junk cluttering our low earth orbit is prohibitively expensive for a non-profit astronomical organization to engage in. The society does encourage various space agencies to cover satellites in dark, light-absorbent, colours before they launch, but these advocacy efforts are limited. Regardless of the origin, eyes looking up at the night sky may observe stirring light and note Kendurkar’s reminder, “it’s still fascinating and it’s still extremely active, and it always will be active.”

- Ian Gregg, CFURadio 88.7FM, Due North News, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter