What were those mysterious lights in the evening sky?
South Maclean resident Marion McLennan captured the moment when she took her bins for collection shortly after sunset at her home just south of Brisbane.
'[The lights] lingered and moved from north-west toward east and then finally disappeared,' she said.
'It lasted maybe around 10 to 15 minutes.'
While several theories – some more outlandish than others – circulated on social media, University of Southern Queensland astrophysicist Professor Jonti Horner confirmed the phenomenon was a result of a Chinese commercial rocket launch.
The 50.5-metre Long March-8A rocket lifted off from the Hainan International Commercial Aerospace Launch Centre, off the coast of mainland China, at 5.49pm AEST.
'It's always a UFO [unidentified flying object] until it becomes an identified flying object, that's usually the case,' Horner said.
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Mysterious lights spotted in the sky over south-east Queensland and northern NSW, which prompted myriad social media theories on Wednesday night, were the result of rocket launched about 7000 kilometres away. South Maclean resident Marion McLennan captured the moment when she took her bins for collection shortly after sunset at her home just south of Brisbane. '[The lights] lingered and moved from north-west toward east and then finally disappeared,' she said. 'It lasted maybe around 10 to 15 minutes.' While several theories – some more outlandish than others – circulated on social media, University of Southern Queensland astrophysicist Professor Jonti Horner confirmed the phenomenon was a result of a Chinese commercial rocket launch. The 50.5-metre Long March-8A rocket lifted off from the Hainan International Commercial Aerospace Launch Centre, off the coast of mainland China, at 5.49pm AEST. 'It's always a UFO [unidentified flying object] until it becomes an identified flying object, that's usually the case,' Horner said.
