Zhoushan's thrilling "blood-red sky" has become a hot topic! Is it a UFO landing?

On the evening of May 7, some Zhoushan netizens shared photos and videos of the local area. The sky was actually red, and "Zhoushan sky" immediately became a hot search.

Photos and videos taken by local netizens

Netizens speculated on the cause of this strange phenomenon. Some suggested "earthquake precursor", "solar activity" and "aliens are coming". Some quoted the historical records that "Hannan Xujunzhi records: In the first year of Chongzhen, the sky in Shaanxi was as red as blood". Some local residents believed that a fire had occurred and called the fire department.

However, experts from the Space Physics Research Team of China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) said that according to the observation records of solar and geomagnetic activities, geomagnetic activities were generally calm on May 7, and there were no significant abnormalities in solar activities, which basically ruled out the possibility that geomagnetic and solar activities caused the sky to turn red. The local fire department also said that no fire had occurred.

There are also popular science bloggers who put forward relatively reliable analysis:

Image source: China Weather Enthusiasts

The next day, Zhoushan Meteorological Bureau responded: This is a phenomenon of refraction and scattering of light.

"The fog last night (May 7) was not as heavy as the previous two days. From the video, the visibility was still OK, but there were more clouds last night, and it was drizzling, which might be a refraction of light by low-level clouds."

So where did the light come from? A staff member of Zhoushan Meteorological Bureau said that the light source might be the lights of ships at the port.

Subsequently, Zhoushan Radio and Television investigated this and conducted a positioning analysis based on the location of the red light, discovering that the location was exactly at the Zhouyu Company's dock, where an ocean-going vessel fishing for Northern Pacific saury was parked.

The deputy general manager of Zhouyu Company also confirmed the news. Source: Zhoushan Radio and Television

How red are the lights of the fishing boats that illuminate the entire sky of Zhoushan?

Let’s take a look

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Red lights on saury boats (data map) Source: Zhoushan Radio and Television

Well, I didn't expect it to be so popular...

Red and yellow are the colors with the longest wavelengths among visible light and have very strong penetrating power. When combined with the fact that suspended water vapor in the air forms aerosols, this "weird celestial phenomenon" will appear.

Some netizens said that they had seen similar situations before.

After the truth came out, netizens said:

"The taste of saury, cats and I both want to know~"

"I didn't expect the lights of fishing boats to reflect over such a large area. Approaching Science could be used to make several episodes!"

"If this happened in ancient times, the Imperial Observatory would have been very busy..."

Source: China Science Network compiled from Zhoushan Radio and Television, Qianjiang Evening News, Global Times, etc.

Editor: Mao Mengnan

Review: Wang Fei

Final judge: Chen Lei