A glowing object spotted shooting across the night sky in central and southwest China on Monday was not an alien UFO but a rocket used in an experiment, the Chinese Academy of Sciences said yesterday.
Scientists explain UFO seen over China. |
Scientists at the academy's National Space Science Center announced they had launched a probe into the upper reaches of the Earth's atmosphere after videos and pictures of the object had been posted on the Internet.
"The rocket was launched at 9pm on Monday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China to investigate energy particles and magnetic fields in the ionized stratum and near-Earth space," the space science center said.
It said the experiment had achieved its objectives by allowing scientists to obtain first-hand data regarding space at different altitudes.
The data would prove invaluable when China carried out further outer space experiments and during the construction of its space station.
People in central Hubei Province said they saw a V-shaped object rising in the sky at around 9pm on Monday.
Video clips posted online showed an object with a long, bright tail with red sides disappearing into the darkness in just a few seconds.
Skywatchers in southwest Yunnan and Sichuan provinces also posted pictures.
In July last year, a similar glowing object was spotted hovering over a mountain in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.
The object was spotted flying over Fenghuang Mountain and was captured on camera. Other tourists on the mountain said they saw the object before it quickly disappeared.
In 1994, there were reports that a UFO had landed on one of the mountain's peaks.
So far, there has been no explanation for either incident.
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