Chinese social media stirs up after UFO sighting in the night sky

People in Beijing and other parts of China saw an unidentified flying object (UFO) in the night sky on Sunday (January 14). An astronomer said it could be a rocket launching US Starlink satellites into orbit.

Social media users posted images of what they said were UFOs in the sky. Photo: Weibo

After being shared on social media, the unusual image of a UFO quickly caused a stir, quickly becoming one of the top 5 most searched topics on Weibo with more than 900,000 related content as of noon on January 15.

One Beijing resident described the UFO as looking like a cloud-like moving object. Another gave a more detailed description, saying the weather in Beijing at the time was “very clear, no clouds, and then I saw a faint glowing object but the light was not flashing.”

The person added that the glowing object "had three light sources and was shaped like an isosceles triangle, and it eventually dissipated like mist without leaving a trace."

Not only in Beijing, UFOs were also seen in several other localities in China including the nearby city of Tianjin, as well as the central provinces of Shanxi and Shandong in the east.

The object was described as a "foggy ball of light" that flew quickly from west to east without making a sound. Many people said the light of the object did not flicker, so it was unlikely to be an aircraft.

UFOs were also seen in the city of Tianjin as well as the central provinces of Shanxi and Shandong in eastern China. Photo: Weibo

Researcher Wang Zhuoxiao at the Center for Astronomy Technology at Tsinghua University in Beijing said that this could be the rocket used for the Starlink mission – SpaceX's internet satellite constellation.

At 3:59 a.m. local time on January 14 (4:59 p.m. Beijing time), SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 22 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The missile’s trajectory is inclined 53 degrees south and it will fly over northern China halfway through its flight, making it visible to people in Beijing and other cities at dusk or before sunrise, Wang said.

After the Starlink satellites are put into orbit, the rocket will dump its excess fuel. That process can scatter light, meaning it could form a cloud around the rocket. An astronomer at the Beijing Planetarium also said it could be a rocket launched from the United States.

Earlier on the night of September 13, people in northern China also saw a similar object in the night sky, describing it as two beams of light that gradually disappeared after about a minute. The object was later identified as a rocket cloud formed after the spacecraft was launched.

Hoai Phuong (according to SCMP)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/mang-xa-hoi-trung-quoc-xon-xao-khi-phat-hien-ufo-tren-bau-troi-dem-post281138.html