UFO spotted in Australia: watch

On Wednesday, July 30, 2025, some mysterious, oddly-shaped orbs seen in the sky have left Australians wondering if they spotted an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO).

A video went viral on social media that shows a UFO flying over Queensland and northern New South Wales.

People witnessed three glowing, white disks like shapes pulsating and expanding above the East Coast around midnight.

Residents from Queensland to Northern New South Wales posted videos of this eerie site, with many speculations about what they had seen was just a glimpse out of this world.

One of the witnesses from the Gold Coast reported, "Maybe three UFOs or a Big Star ship."

Another stated, “I think it might be something terrestrial from outer space." 

A viewer also insisted, “it’s a UFO. It has to be."

Mystery behind the UFO

Experts are saying that the strange object people saw was not a UFO; instead, it seems to be a Chinese rocket.

According to the BBC, astrobiologist and astronomer Professor Jonti Horner confirmed that the sightings he observed from his home state resemble with the Long March 8A rocket launch from Hainan. 

While the glowing orbs sparked speculation, Australian National University astrophysicist Dr. Brad Tucker offered a more in-depth breakdown of the explanation.

Dr. Brad informed that the mysterious site was a rocket plume, the exhaust released when parts of the rocket separated during launch.

"This was from a Chinese launch,” told Tucker.

Tucker explained that the rocket was launched to the south east, passing over the ocean just off the coast of Queensland.

“Rockets have multiple stages, and when those parts of the rocket separate, they have little thrusters and gas that separate them. And that’s kind of the exhaust coming out,” Tucker added.

“Sometimes we call these as ‘space jellyfish’, believe it or not, because of the weird shape and tentacles,” he said.

Although the lights may have seemed close, Tucker said they were likely hundreds of kilometres offshore and dozens of kilometres in the atmosphere.

“If you think about the rocket launch as it goes up, it actually takes quite a while to actually enter space. They’re also designed so that when they separate, they separate over the ocean so that if anything comes down, it lands in the ocean”, he further explained.

Moreover, the rockets are used to launch satellites for China’s state-owned internet network into space.