City in the sky? 'Buildings' seen floating above China baffles onlookers and fuels wild speculation of a parallel universe
- What appears to be a floating city has appeared in skies above China
- Footage apparently showing skyscrapers poking through the clouds
- The sightings fuelled speculation of alien life and a parallel universe
- But weather experts have another explanation for the phenomenon
The mysterious appearances of a 'floating city' in skies above China baffled residents and fuelled conspiracy theories.
Footage appearing to show skyscrapers poking through clouds sent conspiracy theory groups into a spin with speculation of alien life and a parallel universe.
But weather experts have another explanation for the phenomenon, which has been sighted at least four times over the past two years, according to Yahoo.
Footage apparently showing skyscrapers poking through the clouds above China's Jiangi city sent conspiracy groups into a spin
One theory to spread online was that the city is a hologram produced by the authorities called 'Project Blue Beam test'.
Project Blue Beam is a belief that NASA will simulate an alien invasion of Earth or second coming of Christ through holograms.
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But experts have revealed it is in fact an optical illusion known as a Fata Morgana.
It occurs when rays of light are bent after passing through air layers of different temperatures, stacking together distant objects.
This vision shows the illusion above the city of city of Yueyang in Hunan Province
This vision shows the phenomenon in skies above Wuzhong City
The bizarre spectacle fuelled speculation of alien life and a parallel universe
'Our brain assumes that light travels in a straight paths, so when it bends, we think the object is where it would be if the light's path runs straight,' expert Suryanarayana Maddu said online.
'In this case, light reflected from the skyscrapers is bent downward as it passes through the colder, denser air.
'Because the brain puts the object where it would be if the light travelled a straight path, the distant skyscrapers appear higher than they actually are.'
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