reply to post by JimOberg
They are two separate incidents.
On the evening of August 27, 1987, observers across wide areas of central China reported a UFO in terms no different than those used by witnesses
elsewhere.
That particular "UFO" turned out to be surplus fuel venting from a tumbling Japanese rocket about 300 kilometers out in space. As the rocket spun, a
spiral-shaped cloud larger than the moon formed in the dusk skies, moved rapidly from west to east.
www.space.com...
From the above article, one can see that 1987 incident was across central China(Shanghai to be exact), while Heihe is located at northernmost fringe
of China, not exactly "central China". Besides, the 1988 spiral light "appeared on the night sky of Heihe for a period of successive 5 days,"
which was not the case with 1987 incident.
According to Chinese Ufologists, since 1970 to 2005, there were over 20 incidents of “spiral light” phenomenon reported in China. What’s more,
they believe this phenomenon was recorded by ancient Chinese chronicles as early as the Qin and Han period. Astronomical records from the book of
Jin(265-420AD), Sui, Song dynasties tell of "falling star big as a crock and rotates like the wheel". A local chronicle of Chaozhou(in Guangdong
province) also records that during the fifth year of emperor Wanli of Ming dynasty, on the third of 12th lunar month, there was “a falling star that
rotates like the wheel, it glared the sky and extinguished awhile later.”
Among many cases of the "spiral UFO" of China, only few could be explained with "the rocket theory", while some cases are difficult to attribute
to that rockets(for instance, I think its unlikely there were 5 rockets responsible for Heihe’s successive 5 nights of spiral lights show in 1988),
while others can’t be explained with such theory.
If by any chance what were recorded by ancient chronicles are the same phenomenon to present day "spiral UFO", then "the Japanese rocket"
certainly have no part in its making.
www.zh5000.com...
www.zh5000.com...
P.S. Personally I don’t think it’s an UFO, so I prefer to call it "spiral light", because it does not resemble the UFOs I know of, and I’m
open to other scientific explanations for the phenomena. Nevertheless I still believe in the existence of UFOs, and the reason is simple, I’ve
witnessed it twice.
[edit on 11-11-2009 by sunsky]