Astronomers in Japan believe green laser-lights spotted over Hawaii last month were beamed down by a Chinese weather satellite.
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan posted video online of a string of lights in the sky filmed by a camera atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii’s tallest mountain on Jan. 28. The organization’s researchers said NASA’s ICESAT-2 satellite’s topographic laser, used to monitor sea ice and forests, was responsible for the light show.
But NOAJ added a correction to its YouTube post saying their satellite wasn’t the cause of lasers over Hawaii, Vice noted this week. Rather, “the most likely candidate,” according to the updated video, was a Chinese Daqi-1/AEMS satellite launched last year. It’s used to track nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and ozone, as well as carbon dioxide” the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation said in a 2021 press release.
The otherwise innocuous update took on a life of its own online in light of a pair of airships being shot out of the sky by F-22s in the past week. One of those objects was a balloon being used by China to spy on the U.S., Pentagon officials said. Chinese officials claimed it was a weather balloon.
The Biden administration said it was designed to intercept communication on the ground while it floated 60,000 feet over U.S. airspace during its trip from Montana to the east coast.
Chinese Defense Ministry refused a phone call from U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to clear the air after an F-22 downed the balloon Sunday.
On Friday, an F-22 shot down a yet-to-be-identified vessel flying 40,000 feet over Alaska. Its origin and purpose are unclear. U.S. officials said the object posed a potential threat to civilian aircraft.
