The following was reported on "Sino Science" on July 10, 2002.

UFO Sighted in Chongqing's Night Sky - Possible Space Ship

On the evening of July 3, 2002, a reporter took several photos of the brilliantly-illuminated night skies over Yuzhong Peninsula from the top of the south mountain. On July 9, when he carefully examined the enlargements, he discovered in one picture a mysterious light floating in midair. Could it be the UFO that has been repeatedly reported in recent newspapers around the country?

At around 7:30 p.m., the reporter took a series of photos at 3 minute intervals. Altogether he took about 20 photos. The last picture clearly shows a mysterious illuminated floating object in the Yuzong night sky. The three to five meter circular object appeared to be about 100 to 200 meters above the ground. The center was very bright, while the perimeter assumed a slightly dark orange red. With many city lights obscuring his vision, the reporter was unable to discern exactly what it was or to observe all it's motions.

Nationwide media outlets have recently reported a mysterious UFO passing gently and swiftly over several provinces, including Jiangsu, Henan, Shanxi, Sichuan and Chongqing City. Sightings by local eyewitnesses confirmed its existence. There were several reports from the air-force, residents, and astronomy experts in Chongqing at the end of last month. Many people dismissed the phenomenon as light refraction, atmospheric phenomena, an airplane, satellite, man-made spaceship, rocket fragment etc. However, some people analyzing the illuminated UFO that the reporter photographed suggest that lights refracted by low altitude cloud cover that night could not "focus" to such an intense brightness as the photos showed. Generally, light reflected by the cloud layer would diffuse. Besides, there is no flight route over the Yuzhong Peninsula. As it is a non-flight area, it is not likely a man-made flight vehicle.

What is this UFO? Astronomers in Chongqing confirmed on July 9 that since June 30^th, experts and residents have observed it passing over the city sky multiple times. Director of Chongqing Astronomical Observatory revealed that at 10:00pm on July 26, 1995, a strange fan-shape and arched illuminant appeared in the upper sky of the northwest area in China . Residents in over 20 provinces saw the marvelous sight. After thorough observation and analysis, the Mt. Zijinshan Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Science found that it was neither the eruption of a supernova, nor a comet meteor, but rather a strange space ship! The observed altitude was 1460 kilometer and its speed was about 480 kilometers per minute. It spouted 3000 meters of flame, gas, and dust.

Professor Wu Zhi-lun, Chongqing Popular Science Education Association Director, analyzed and made some speculations based on the time, position, and phenomenon of the UFO witnessed by many residents on June 30 this year. He found this flying object to be similar to one sighted in 1995. Addressing whether it is a man-made spacecraft, Professor Wu stated, "There are too many enigmas from Earth to outer space that are inexplicable. Until humanity is able to break the code, we can only accept this mystical reality." (Photographer / Li Hua)