Chinese rocket sparks UFO sighting rumours above NSW, Queensland

Just when you thought 2021 couldn’t get any stranger, residents in Queensland and NSW reported a UFO-like object in the sky.

Just when you thought 2021 couldn’t get any stranger, NSW and Queensland residents reported seeing a shiny UFO-like object gliding through the night sky - but it was actually a Chinese rocket.

The white disc-shaped object was seen hovering through the night sky on Monday.

Residents took to social media to share eerie clips of the refractive object, wondering if the aliens had dropped by to watch the latest season of Earth.

Residents reported seeing the UFO-like

object floating through the sky. Photo: Facebook

But astrophysicist Dr Brad Tucker says the sighting was actually the plume of a Chinese rocket - the Long March 3B.

“The plume is like exhaust, gas coming out during launch of the rocket. Sometimes if it happens in the evening you can see the stranger shape and sight,” he said.

The rocket, rumoured to be a new generation of navigation satellite which broadcasts in 4K and 8K, was launched from China’s Xichang Satellite Launch Center on Monday.

A Long March 3B rocket lifting off from the Xichang launch centre in China in 2018. Picture: AFP

The timing - a few weeks after Australia announced a historic military partnership with the US and UK - may seem curious to some, but Dr Tucker says it’s not entirely unusual.

“Sightings like this can be rare and surprising- given their weird shape and they way they move in the sky. However, as more rocket launches happen - this was actually China’s second launch of the day, they are becoming more and more common!”

China is reportedly launching the satellite in readiness for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

Reports of UFO-like sightings have become more common in recent years as more satellites are launched into the sky.

Elon Musk’s satellites have often been spotted gliding through the sky and mistaken as UFO sightings.