Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2023 February 20

= February 20 =

Recent Chinese UFO
Regarding this footage, did any reliable source offer a plausible explanation? Particularly, could it be a video manipulation and if not, what aircraft or natural phenomenon can produce such pattern? 212.180.235.46 (talk) 19:30, 20 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Looks to me like something pretty simple, such as countermeasure flares. Maybe the People's Liberation Army Air Force was doing some sort of training exercise over the area. As for what aircraft could produce such a pattern, basically any military aircraft could potentially do that, as long as it is fitted with flares. --OuroborosCobra (talk) 20:22, 20 February 2023 (UTC)
 * If it is a military aircraft throwing flares, as seems likely, its nearest base is at the dual-use military/civil Qiqihar Sanjiazi Airport. Philvoids (talk) 23:45, 20 February 2023 (UTC)
 * The flares are fired to the side rather than just left in the aircrafts path in any pictures I've seen. They don't seem to go off the path in the video. NadVolum (talk) 16:57, 21 February 2023 (UTC)
 * That differs depending on the aircraft. In the video, I do seem to observe some amount of spread, though admittedly not much. Larger aircraft, like cargo planes, tend to shoot them out to the side (or both in line and out to the side). Smaller aircraft, like fighters, tend not to release to the side. This image of a Chinese J-16 looks to me like what we see in the video, an overall strait line flare release, with a small amount of spread. --OuroborosCobra (talk) 17:07, 21 February 2023 (UTC)