NOT a UFO but a 'space jellyfish': Thousands of Australians baffled by glowing space orbs. Turns out, it's from...

Thousands of Australians were baffled this week after spotting what they thought was an unidentified flying object (UFO) over the skies of Queensland and northern South Wales. Several netizens posted videos and images of the mysterious shining object. Turnes out, it is from a Chinese rocket.

Social media abuzz with mysterious UFO sighting over Australia

May people shared footage of what they thought were UFOs flying over Australian skies on Thursday (July 30). Some Austrialians described it as 'glowing orbs' lighting up the night sky, sparking the widespread UFO speculation. Some even described seeing ‘three UFOs or a big star ship’. The aerial object was visible from Queensland to northern NSW.

Austrialian channel 7News cited one witness as saying, “The one my brother witnessed ... woke him up because it was so bright.”

Theories of extraterrostrials after bright space object seen over Australia

Some social media users theorised that these could be extraterrestrials, while others thought it was a group of asteroids.

“It’s a UFO. It has to be," said one user, according to 7News, while another said “I think it might be something terrestrial from outer space."

Plumes from satellite-launcher rocket of China was sighted over Australian skies

Prof Jonti Hornerer matched the sightings from his home state with a Long March 8A rocket launch from Hainan, BBC said in a report. These rockets are used to launch satellites for China's state-owned internet network into space.

Dr Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist from the Australian National University, also identified the lights as a "rocket plume" from the Chinese Long March 8A rocket, launched at 5.49pm Australian time on Wednesday. “This was from a Chinese launch,” he said, confirming that the timing matched sightings over the east coast, 7News reported.

Why was Chinese rocket making glowing shapes on Australian sky?

Dr Tucker explained to 7News that the the glowing shapes were a result of gas release during rocket stage separation. The resulting bright spots on the sky are often called 'space jellyfish’ as they have strange shape and tentacles, Dr Tucker said.
Though they looked close, the lights were actually “hundreds of kilometres offshore and dozens of kilometres in the atmosphere,” he added.

“It’s kind of like peeling out in a car — the dust plume just hangs in the air behind it,” he said, explaining why the orbs appeared to be staying in one place.

The gas stays where the rocket stage separation happens. After some time, the gas just fades off into the atmosphere, he said.