The skies over Queensland and northern New South Wales lit up on Wednesday night with a mysterious, glowing phenomenon that had thousands of Australians looking up in awe and frantically posting on social media. What many initially believed to be an unidentified flying object (UFO), or even a fleet of “three UFOs or a big star ship,” has now been definitively identified by astronomers as the breathtaking rocket plume from a Chinese space launch.
Videos and images of the event, which were widely shared online, showed bright, glowing orbs and strange, tentacled shapes illuminating the night sky, sparking a frenzy of alien theories and scientific speculation. “It’s a UFO. It has to be,” one user commented, with another suggesting the sighting was “something terrestrial from outer space.” One witness even reported being woken up by the sheer brightness of the phenomenon.
However, astrophysicists quickly moved to provide a terrestrial explanation for the celestial light show. Dr. Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist from the Australian National University, confirmed the lights were a “rocket plume” from a Chinese Long March 8A rocket. The launch, which took place from Hainan, China, earlier that day, was carrying satellites for China’s state-owned internet network.
Dr. Tucker explained that the spectacular “glowing shapes” were a result of gas released during the rocket’s stage separation. He noted that such plumes are often colloquially referred to as “space jellyfish” due to their unusual and ethereal appearance. The phenomenon, which appeared to be close to the ground, was in fact “hundreds of kilometers offshore and dozens of kilometers in the atmosphere.”
The timing of the Long March 8A rocket launch at 5:49 PM Australian time on Wednesday perfectly matched the sightings over Australia’s east coast, providing a clear scientific explanation for the mysterious event. “It’s kind of like peeling out in a car — the dust plume just hangs in the air behind it,” Dr. Tucker said, explaining why the orbs seemed to linger in one place before the gas eventually faded into the atmosphere.
This incident is not the first time a Chinese rocket has caused a stir in Australian skies. In 2021, a Long March 3B rocket also created a similar spectacle, with many observers mistaking its trail for a UFO or a missile. Such events are becoming more common as China and other nations increase the frequency of their space launches.
For a few thrilling hours, however, the strange, glowing shapes in the night sky provided a rare and mesmerizing spectacle, sparking curiosity and wonder across Australia. While the truth may not have been an alien visitation, the event served as a powerful reminder of the incredible and often misidentified sights that can appear in our atmosphere as humanity’s spacefaring ambitions continue to grow.