lasers
© Subaru-Asahi Star Camera
Green Lasers over Hawaii
Late last month, mysterious green laser beams were spotted from Hawaii's tallest peak. Experts initially said the burst of laser beams was emitted by a NASA spacecraft though that was proven incorrect this week -- with evidence pointing to a Chinese satellite.

Space experts at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) initially tweeted on Jan. 30 that the Subaru-Asahi Star Camera "captured green laser lights in the cloudy sky over Maunakea, Hawai'i. The lights are thought to be from a remote-sensing altimeter satellite ICESAT-2/43613."

But on Feb. 6, one week later, NAOJ issued a correction on YouTube that specified the laser beams weren't from a US spacecraft but the "most likely candidate" was a "Chinese Daqi-1/AEMS satellite."

Here's the video of the Chinese satellite firing bursts of lasers toward Earth:


"According to Dr. Martino, Anthony J., a NASA scientist working on ICESat-2 ATLAS, it is not by their instrument but by others." [a correction note on the YouTube video explains]

"His colleagues, Dr. Alvaro Ivanoff et al., did a simulation of the trajectory of satellites that have a similar instrument and found a most likely candidate as the ACDL instrument by the Chinese Daqi-1/AEMS satellite.

"We really appreciate their efforts in the identification of the light. We are sorry about our confusion related to this event and its potential impact on the ICESat-2 team."
Even though the Daqi-1 satellite is supposedly an atmospheric environment monitoring spacecraft, there are many concerns after the spy balloon incident last week of space-base and even high-altitude surveillance equipment monitoring the US and allies.