A mysterious, white object that suddenly appeared in the sky above north-central China had locals worried that a UFO was finally visiting Earth.
It was captured on video by several residents who spotted it moving above the city of Yinchuan, in Ningxia Region, on the evening of 1st November.
The footage shows a strange, glowing object slowly ascending, with a jellyfish-like long tail streaking across the sky.
A similar sight was also reported by residents in Xining city, with the same shape as the one seen in Yinchuan.
The images shared later on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, sparked speculations among online users, with some suggesting it might be an extraterrestrial flying object.
One of the netizens who shared the images, titled ‘Hao ah yo~’, wrote in the caption: “A UFO appeared in the sky over Yinchuan just now. I don’t know what it is.”
A user titled ‘tiger’ commented: “I also saw it, and there seemed to be a few smaller ones behind it!”
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) later stated that what the residents had witnessed was actually the cloud trail of a satellite that was launched into the orbit earlier that day.
CASC staff said: “On 1st November at 6:50 am, the Long March 6 modified carrier rocket was launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, successfully placing the Tianhui-5 satellite into its intended orbit.
“[What] netizens encountered [was] the rocket cloud of Long March 6 in Yinchuan.”
