A strange object described as looking like a 'space jellyfish' caught the attention of Hunter residents as it streaked across the night sky on Tuesday.
The flying object, surrounded by a veil of striking blue and white light, was spotted by hundreds of stargazers across Queensland and northern NSW about 7pm on Tuesday.
The celestial sighting sent internet sleuths into action, as they shared images in an attempt to figure out its source.
Ashleigh Keen said she was walking her dog with her partner in Adamstown when they saw a flash in the sky.
"It was unexpected. We weren't looking for anything, just out for a walk. It happened so quickly," she said.
"It was a strange triangular shape and it was moving so fast.
"My partner saw it and said 'quick record it', because we didn't know what it was.
"At first I thought it could be a plane crashing because it looked like there was smoke coming off the back of it.
"Then we were convinced it was a meteor coming down through the Earth's atmosphere."
Ms Keen said the bright light travelled across the sky for about 30 to 40 seconds before "fizzing out" into the distance.
"We put the video up on social media because we thought someone might be able to tell us what it was," she said.
"There was obviously a lot of speculation about aliens and people having fun with it but lots of people started saying it was a Chinese rocket.
"That made a lot more sense, but was also interesting itself, because why would a Chinese rocket be flying over Australia?"
As similar videos and pictures appeared from across the east coast the source was quickly identified as the Chinese Zhuque 2E Block 2 rocket launched from a satellite launch centre in northern China about 6.20pm on Tuesday.
The president of the Newcastle Astronomical Society, Mark Anderson, said it was uncommon for Chinese rockets to travel on a trajectory over Australia.
"Launches usually occur closer to the equator, so it is unusual for one of their launches to be seen over Australia," he said.
Mr Anderson said similar launches were becoming more common around the world, but it was still rare to be able to see them in Australia.
"Most of the operations are happening out of the US."
He said that, over the past few years, Australia had slowly been pushing for sovereign launch capacity, with possible sites in Queensland earmarked.
Mr Anderson said the odd shape seen around the rocket could be the reflections of light passing through the exhaust gases.
"It is certainly an interesting shape, and it could be because the rocket is dumping additional fuel as it leaves the atmosphere," he said.
