Aircraft are equipped with positional lights, and you can easily follow their trajectory. A satellite moves very quickly across the sky; its orbit is relatively low, and it is not particularly bright as it only reflects sunlight. Stars hold their positions much longer, and it can be seen that the stars in my photos have not moved at all, in contrast to the light-radiating object. Further evidence for the speed at which it was moving was provided by the fact that while I was examining my first photos, the position of the object changed to the extent that I had to reposition my camera for the following ones. In the meantime, light cloud cover had begun to obscure the sky – it was only at this point that the object started to bear any resemblance to the planet Venus, which I have observed and photographed so often in recent weeks in the skies over Beijing.

A longer exposure (ISO 1600; 30 seconds exposure on aperture 40) shows that the twinkling object is moving steadily in a straight line.

Over the last two days, snowy weather over Beijing has resulted in heavy cloud cover, and nothing has been visible in the night skies. We can only wait and see if the strange object shows itself again. What is it? Venus, or something else? Keep your eyes peeled – maybe you'll be lucky enough to see it yourself…"

(China.org.cn February 19, 2009)