A strange sight of a blood-red sky over a city near Shanghai, China, has sparked fear among the citizens.
The footage, taken by residents of Zhoushan, in east China’s Zhejiang Province, shows the night sky turning orange and red amid a thick layer of fog.
Videos on social platforms in China documented the phenomenon that occurred on May 7.
In response to the speculation circulated by activists on Chinese social media, the Zhoushan Meteorological Bureau clarified that it was nothing supernatural.
A spokesman said: “Yesterday it was completely foggy and clouds were forming at a low altitude,” adding that “this is a phenomenon caused by refraction of light.”
According to state-owned media, a local fishing company confirmed that the refracting of light came from one of its fishing boats.
The deputy director of the company said, “The red lights came from our fishing boats.. We turned them on when catching saury.”
He continued, “The red light was refracted from above the water’s surface and brightened in the sky, causing a mirage-like phenomenon. It is very common, especially around coastal areas.”
Some netizens pointed out that the red sky appeared for nine days in many countries in 1770, which Japanese scientists claimed in an academic article in 2017 was caused by massive solar activity.
In response, an expert from the space physics research team of the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan told the media that solar and geomagnetic activity was quiet on Saturday and there were no major cases of solar activity according to monitoring records, ruling out the possibility of this happening in Zhoushan.
