Mysterious green laser beams that were spotted over Hawaii last month most likely came from Chinese satellites, experts said after originally claiming the lights were from NASA.
Scientists at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) tweeted that the space agency’s Subaru-Asahi Star Camera on Mauna Kea “captured green laser lights in the cloudy sky over Maunakea, Hawai’i” on Jan. 28, showing a clip of numerous ominous green beams shooting across the sky.
“The lights are thought to be from a remote-sensing altimeter satellite ICESAT-2/43613” — a NASA craft, the agency said.
On Feb. 6, NOAJ issued a correction on their video stating that the “most likely candidate” was the Chinese Daqi-1/AEMS satellite after the ICESat-2 team ran a simulation of satellite trajectories.
The corrected statement comes amid expanding tensions between the US and China after several foreign objects — including a Chinese spy balloon — breached US airspace.
“We really appreciate their efforts in the identification of the light,” NAOJ wrote. “We are sorry about our confusion related to this event and its potential impact on the ICESat-2 team.”
What caused the confusion?
NASA’s Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2), which pulses a similar bright green, launched in 2018 and shoots lasers down at the Earth to measure the planet’s surface, according to CNET.
US on edge amid multiple foreign objects
On Friday, the US shot down another high-altitude “object” flying at 40,000 feet over the frozen waters off Alaska.
The following day, a US military jet shot down an unidentified airborne object over Canada’s Yukon Territory after it violated Canadian airspace, Canadian and US officials confirmed.
US national security officials believe the flying objects shot down over Alaska and Canada were balloons, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in an interview on ABC on Sunday.
"You can be sure that if any American interests where people are at risk, they'll take appropriate action," he said, adding that the objects shot down on Friday and Saturday were much smaller than the first balloon that drifted over US airspace and was shot down over South Carolina last Saturday.
Reuters contributed to this report