Case file · Sighting
The 1982 halo over northern China
Hundreds of thousands of people from Heilongjiang to Jiangsu saw a 'bright star' grow a white halo and fade.
1982 CE · 45.00, 126.00 · status: explained
The account
Around 10 pm on 18 June 1982 a bright point rose over the northern horizon, formed an expanding white halo and was gone by about 10:50 pm. Reports came from a huge area. Astronomer Liu Yan of the Purple Mountain Observatory attributed it to a man-made spacecraft.
The sceptical view
The expanding, sunlit halo is typical of a rocket's exhaust cloud after sunset.
Connections in the atlas
- Flight crews' lights of August 2011
- The 30 June 2002 object across China
- The 1981 'sky spiral' over western China
- 'Space jellyfish' rocket sightings