A cigar-shaped unidentified luminous object captured on a Xinjiang passenger aircraft [Likely Ski Area]

[Starflint]

Here are several photos taken by the photographer at that time

The video was released on the Chinese TikTok platform, and currently limited information can be obtained from the comments section:
The video was taken facing north from a flight departing eastward from Urumqi Tianshan International Airport to Shaanxi on the evening of January 4, 2026.

The photographer stated that he pressed his phone tightly against the window to capture the footage, so it is not a reflection from inside the cabin. Moreover, the object remained clearly visible even after the plane entered the unlit mountainous area. However, the filming stopped afterward as there were no reference points for comparison.（I will follow up promptly if there is any news）

Regarding the specific flight number and video source file timestamp, I am currently inquiring with the videographer and have yet to receive a response. So far, based on the map and the direction they mentioned, I have not been able to locate any matching surface structures in the image. Additionally, I'm considering whether it might be an unactivated Starlink satellite constellation. I hope friends can join in the discussion to explore and clarify this together!

 

[flarkey]

Pretty sure this is the view in the first photo location in Ürümqi, looking East. Buildings are at 43.801758° 87.604875°.

 

[John J.]

Reflection of a light in the window?

What did other passengers or cabin crew think?

 

[FatPhil]

The photographer stated that he pressed his phone tightly against the window to capture the footage, so it is not a reflection from inside the cabin.

Then how come he was clearly capturing reflections?

 

[Scaramanga]

View attachment 87693
Here are several photos taken by the photographer at that time
View attachment 87694
View attachment 87695
View attachment 87696
View attachment 87697

The video was released on the Chinese TikTok platform, and currently limited information can be obtained from the comments section:
The video was taken facing north from a flight departing eastward from Urumqi Tianshan International Airport to Shaanxi on the evening of January 4, 2026.

The photographer stated that he pressed his phone tightly against the window to capture the footage, so it is not a reflection from inside the cabin. Moreover, the object remained clearly visible even after the plane entered the unlit mountainous area. However, the filming stopped afterward as there were no reference points for comparison.（I will follow up promptly if there is any news）

Regarding the specific flight number and video source file timestamp, I am currently inquiring with the videographer and have yet to receive a response. So far, based on the map and the direction they mentioned, I have not been able to locate any matching surface structures in the image. Additionally, I'm considering whether it might be an unactivated Starlink satellite constellation. I hope friends can join in the discussion to explore and clarify this together!

This video has all the hallmarks of a reflection of something from inside the plane. In particular the fact that there is, as far as I can see, zero relative motion between the plane and the 'UFO'...which would only happen in the very unlikely event that the 'UFO' was travelling at the exact same speed and direction.

The photographer pressing the camera against the window....well...plane windows actually have at least two panes of glass. Google AI indicates that the separation between outer and inner pane can be as much as 1.5 inches. More than enough for a reflection to be bounced off the outer pane and into the camera.

 

[jdog]

This video has all the hallmarks of a reflection of something from inside the plane. In particular the fact that there is, as far as I can see, zero relative motion between the plane and the 'UFO'...which would only happen in the very unlikely event that the 'UFO' was travelling at the exact same speed and direction.

The photographer pressing the camera against the window....well...plane windows actually have at least two panes of glass. Google AI indicates that the separation between outer and inner pane can be as much as 1.5 inches. More than enough for a reflection to be bounced off the outer pane and into the camera.

That sounds precisely right, you need to use black fabric or paper around the camera lens to block out other reflections. I was looking for an example and found this Facebook post, where the responder says a skirt will help if the window is not double-paned. (Another solution is to turn off the interior lights.)

 

[Trailblazer]

Pretty sure this is the view in the first photo location in Ürümqi, looking East. Buildings are at 43.801758° 87.604875°.
View attachment 87698

Based on that, could it be a light on top of the mountains? It doesn't look like a window reflection to me, but it does appear to be moving more slowly than the city lights, which would be consistent with parallax on a more distant light source.

Boosting the shadows in one of the photos shows what may be the ridge line of the mountains above the light.

The colour of the light seems to match the colour of the other building lights. Unlike the other lights it doesn't seem to be illuminating the fog/mist, but that is not too unexpected if there was fog in the valley but not higher up in the mountains.

I can't immediately see a candidate but there does seem to be a national/forest park to the east there, with various hotels.

 

[Trailblazer]

The video was taken facing north from a flight departing eastward from Urumqi Tianshan International Airport to Shaanxi on the evening of January 4, 2026.

Assuming Shaanxi means Xi'an airport (XIY) then that would seem to narrow it down to China Eastern flight MU2300 which departed at 21:42 local time (13:42 UTC) on 4 Jan: https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/mu2300

The previous flight on that route, HU7897, departed at 17:40 which was before sunset, and there were no others after midnight that evening.

 

[Ann K]

@Starflint
The mismatch between the conspicuous diagonal motion blur of the (external) lights on the ground (conspicuous in the third still photo) and the lack of the same on the object strongly suggests that the mystery object is stationary with respect to the plane, so an internal reflection seems very likely.

 

[Trailblazer]

Based on that, could it be a light on top of the mountains?

I hadn't looked at the comments on the video site when I posted that but this is currently the second comment:

大大鹏鹏哥
这是将军山上的亭子，亭子的灯
2小时前·新疆

Translation: "This is the pavilion on General Mountain, the light in the pavilion".

I haven't been able to figure out exactly what mountain they are referring to. There is a ski resort called General's Mountain but that is in Altai some way to the north.

@Ann K the lack of motion blur could also be explained by the light being more distant, as I suggested above?

 

[Ann K]

the lack of motion blur could also be explained by the light being more distant, as I suggested above?

Would it? I'd expect motion blur to be seen more in nearby objects than in things at a distance.

The phenomenon could also be explained by the object exactly mimicking the motion of the plane, including movements due to turbulence (highly improbable), by something like an external light on a wing (it doesn't look like that's the case), or a reflection of an internal light. I'm going with door number three.

 

[Trailblazer]

Would it? I'd expect motion blur to be seen more in nearby objects than in things at a distance.

That's what I meant - if the light was further from the plane, on a distant mountain top, then the relative motion would be less than on the nearby city lights. You can see in the photos that the closer lights have more blur. The point lights which are clearly on the ground in the middle of the photo have very little blur while those at the bottom, closer to the plane, have more:

It could well be a reflection - one thing in favour of that explanation is that the light seems "too sharp" when you would expect a distant light to be a bit fainter and more hazy. But again that could be due to clearer air higher up.

 

[flarkey]

Deleted. Better theory below.

 

[flarkey]

Tried to line up a line of sight from one of the other photos and the one I did earlier, and came up with this intersection.

Zooming in on where they intersect is this feature, the Houxia No. 2 Bridge Tiechanggou Bridge.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Tie...&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&safe=active&ssui=on

Finding photos of it isnt easy,

[deleted the photos because they were of the wrong bridge!]


Could sodium streetlight lights on it cause it to look like this...?

Geo-referenced comparison...

 

[flarkey]

Now in sitrec... (the bridge.kml model is a bit big big, but you get the idea)

https://www.metabunk.org/sitrec/?custom=https://sitrec.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/15857/China Glowing Cigar/20260114_232711.js

 

[NoParty]

Flarkey's theory is intriguing & just plausible enough for me to hold off on the
"C'mon, it's obviously just a reflection of something in the plane!" I was about to type.

Ten times more significant, however, is my deep, deep, deep appreciation for a UAP/UFO
that takes us back to the days where our alien craft actually had shapes!
I am so sick of the lazy, bar-couldn't-possibly-be-lower lame-ass "orbs."

 

[flarkey]

@NoParty - totally agree. The problem with all these sightings of unidentified amorphous objects is that's its very hard to actually prove that they are anything in particular. This is often used by the pro-bunking community to deflect or reject any plausible prosaic explanations.

The fact that an out-of-focus point of light looks like an sphere or orb is lost on most UAP fans.

 

[Trailblazer]

Geo-referenced comparison...

I'm struggling to match the view with the map view - there seems to be a prominent grid of streets that don't align with anything on the satellite view as far as I can see. The right-hand red line you have added there marks a road in the photo but doesn't seem to follow anything on the map?

I agree the bridge looks like a good candidate though.

 

[Starflint]

Now in sitrec... (the bridge.kml model is a bit big big, but you get the idea)

https://www.metabunk.org/sitrec/?custom=https://sitrec.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/15857/China Glowing Cigar/20260114_232711.js
View attachment 87731

View attachment 87733

Good news, although I didn't obtain the screenshot of the video source file information, I received a reply from the videographer: the video was filmed at approximately 9:45 PM Beijing time on January 4, 2026, with flight number China Eastern Airlines MU2300

Perhaps this information can better search for flight data and provide a more accurate perspective for comparison

 

[Starflint]

That sounds precisely right, you need to use black fabric or paper around the camera lens to block out other reflections. I was looking for an example and found this Facebook post, where the responder says a skirt will help if the window is not double-paned. (Another solution is to turn off the interior lights.)
View attachment 87701

The videographer replied to many people in the comments section addressing similar doubts, saying he can distinguish what is a reflection, which is why he filmed closely against the window. Additionally, if that thing were an internal reflection inside the plane, it would have been consistently present.

Furthermore, my personal judgment is that if it were a reflection inside the cabin, taken while pressed against the window, it should exhibit displacement during zooming. However, no such movement appears to be present in the video.

 

[Starflint]

Flarkey's theory is intriguing & just plausible enough for me to hold off on the
"C'mon, it's obviously just a reflection of something in the plane!" I was about to type.

Ten times more significant, however, is my deep, deep, deep appreciation for a UAP/UFO
that takes us back to the days where our alien craft actually had shapes!
I am so sick of the lazy, bar-couldn't-possibly-be-lower lame-ass "orbs." View attachment 87742

I have indeed collected some uniquely shaped Chinese UAP cases, and we could discuss and analyze them together sometime

 

[Starflint]

Reflection of a light in the window?

What did other passengers or cabin crew think?

It's unknown; he probably didn't communicate with the people around him

 

[Starflint]

I'm struggling to match the view with the map view - there seems to be a prominent grid of streets that don't align with anything on the satellite view as far as I can see. The right-hand red line you have added there marks a road in the photo but doesn't seem to follow anything on the map?

I agree the bridge looks like a good candidate though.

What I can be certain of is that for some reason, the detailed surface data of Google Maps in China often doesn't align completely, always having a certain margin of error. However, when using local Chinese map software, such as Amap, this issue doesn't occur. I'm not sure if that's a factor here.

 

[flarkey]

I'm struggling to match the view with the map view - there seems to be a prominent grid of streets that don't align with anything on the satellite view as far as I can see. The right-hand red line you have added there marks a road in the photo but doesn't seem to follow anything on the map?

I agree the bridge looks like a good candidate though.

The red line is just one of the lines of sight from the aircraft to the 'luminous cigar'. It doesnt map to a feature on the ground.

I've tried to illustrate my geolocation rationale here. I think there are some new buildings in the city that aren't shown on the GoogleEarth imagery. The city of Urumqi looks beautiful. Amazing to think that such an urban metropolis exists in the absolute middle of nowhere,

(edit, hang on that blue line feature is wrong)

 

[Mendel]

The videographer replied to many people in the comments section addressing similar doubts, saying he can distinguish what is a reflection, which is why he filmed closely against the window.

Noted. Witnesses have been wrong about this before, though.

Additionally, if that thing were an internal reflection inside the plane, it would have been consistently present.

If it's a reflection of the "fasten seatbelts" sign, no. Reflected light sources can move and change.

Furthermore, my personal judgment is that if it were a reflection inside the cabin, taken while pressed against the window, it should exhibit displacement during zooming. However, no such movement appears to be present in the video.

I don't understand why you think that.

 

[Mendel]

pro-bunking community

 

[flarkey]

View attachment 87748
I found the basic flight data on Flightradar24, which indeed shows the flight took off at 21:40 and landed in Xi'an in the early morning. This timing closely matches the 21:45 mentioned by the photographer. However, I don't have a membership for the site, so I couldn't access the exact flight path and altitude details. The photographer claimed they were flying eastward and shooting toward the north at the time, but it's uncertain whether there might have been a perception error.

This is the same flight that @Trailblazer identified above and he one I've been using in sitrec....

Assuming Shaanxi means Xi'an airport (XIY) then that would seem to narrow it down to China Eastern flight MU2300 which departed at 21:42 local time (13:42 UTC) on 4 Jan: https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/mu2300

The previous flight on that route, HU7897, departed at 17:40 which was before sunset, and there were no others after midnight that evening.

 

[flarkey]

I'm struggling to match the view with the map view - there seems to be a prominent grid of streets that don't align with anything on the satellite view as far as I can see. The right-hand red line you have added there marks a road in the photo but doesn't seem to follow anything on the map?

I agree the bridge looks like a good candidate though.

Yeah ok - looking back at it it looks weird. Its like they've built another road past the CBD that isnt on the map. I think its just a perspective/lensing issue that I havent yet worked out in my head. Other views from the plane line up ok, I think we're generally correct.

Ive even checked in the Copurnicus imagery browser that has much more frequent updates (at lower resolution) and it matches Google Earth ok. This is from 6 October. More recent imagery has snow cover and is harder to interpret.

Linky

12 Jan 2026 linky

 

[Starflint]

I hadn't looked at the comments on the video site when I posted that but this is currently the second comment:

大大鹏鹏哥
这是将军山上的亭子，亭子的灯
2小时前·新疆

Translation: "This is the pavilion on General Mountain, the light in the pavilion".

I haven't been able to figure out exactly what mountain they are referring to. There is a ski resort called General's Mountain but that is in Altai some way to the north.

@Ann K the lack of motion blur could also be explained by the light being more distant, as I suggested above?

https://maps.app.goo.gl/ecmY4Dk66C9TeiVz8

These are the ski resort coordinates I confirmed by comparing with Amap, and Google showed no errors. Although the slope angle of the ski trail (lower left, higher right) fits the tilt angle of the glowing object in the video better than the Tiechanggou Bridge, I don't know if such clear lights can be seen from a distance of almost 500 kilometers away from Urumqi Airport.

 

[Trailblazer]

What I can be certain of is that for some reason, the detailed surface data of Google Maps in China often doesn't align completely, always having a certain margin of error. However, when using local Chinese map software, such as Amap, this issue doesn't occur. I'm not sure if that's a factor here.

There is an offset between the real-world position and the Google Maps position of features in China - it's a restriction imposed by the government I believe. So you end up with very weird situations at the borders with neighbouring countries. There's a Wikipedia article explaining this.

 

[Trailblazer]

The videographer replied to many people in the comments section addressing similar doubts, saying he can distinguish what is a reflection, which is why he filmed closely against the window. Additionally, if that thing were an internal reflection inside the plane, it would have been consistently present.

Furthermore, my personal judgment is that if it were a reflection inside the cabin, taken while pressed against the window, it should exhibit displacement during zooming. However, no such movement appears to be present in the video.

I agree that it doesn't seem to be a reflection. If it was a reflection then you would not expect its position to remain consistent with the landscape features: if the camera moved then the reflection would move drastically compared to the background, and if the camera stayed stationary then the reflection, assuming it was a fixed light in the aircraft, would stay stationary in the frame.

Neither of these seems to be true here, although the zoom in the video makes it harder to see - the object does track with the landscape, but at a slower pace than the other lights, consistent with greater distance.

 

[flarkey]

https://maps.app.goo.gl/ecmY4Dk66C9TeiVz8

These are the ski resort coordinates I confirmed by comparing with Amap, and Google showed no errors. Although the slope angle of the ski trail (lower left, higher right) fits the tilt angle of the glowing object in the video better than the Tiechanggou Bridge, I don't know if such clear lights can be seen from a distance of almost 500 kilometers away from Urumqi Airport.

The skiresort is 430km away from the plane track, so unlikely to be this.

 

[flarkey]

There's also a ski resort (https://www.skiresort.info/ski-resort/silk-road/) at 43.443110, 87.412350 but that 33km to the south, so in the wrong direction.

 

[Trailblazer]

It is not the Tiechanggou bridge, if Google Earth's labels are correct... that bridge is the pin marked A here which is too far left to match the view. The other bridge that @flarkey identified does seem to be a match (yellow pin)

That is here: 43.875391°N 87.784854°E. The shape is obviously distorted here as the road is draped on the terrain, but it looks like quite a sizeable and high structure.

This is about the best view of it I can find on Baidu Maps Street View equivalent - this is looking east, so roughly a similar direction as the view from the plane. Link.

 

[flarkey]

It is not the Tiechanggou bridge, if Google earrth labels are correct... that bridge is the pin marked A here which is too far left to match the view. The other bridge that @flarkey does seem to be a match (yellow pin)


That is here: 43.875391°N 87.784854°E. The shape is obviously distorted here as the road is draped on the terrain, but it looks like quite a sizeable and high structure.

Yes thats the structure i'm looking at. I'm not sure of its name, or if it even has one. The only photo I've been able to find of it is in the GoogleEarth Photo layers and shows the entrance to the tunnels.

edit, and this

 

[Trailblazer]

Yes thats the structure i'm looking at. I'm not sure of its name, or if it even has one. The only photo I've been able to find pf it is in the GoogleEarth Photo layers and shows the entrance to the tunnels.

I believe it is called the Shirenzigou Bridge or Shirenzigou Grand Bridge, or in Chinese "Shi Ren Zi Gou Te Da Qiao".

https://share.google/aMVcPxzA455mrL1Uk

I think you have solved this one, it seems like a match.

 

[Starflint]

There is an offset between the real-world position and the Google Maps position of features in China - it's a restriction imposed by the government I believe. So you end up with very weird situations at the borders with neighbouring countries. There's a Wikipedia article explaining this.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/ecmY4Dk66C9TeiVz8

These are the ski resort coordinates I confirmed by comparing with Amap, and Google showed no errors. Although the slope angle of the ski trail (lower left, higher right) fits the tilt angle of the glowing object in the video better than the Tiechanggou Bridge, I don't know if such clear lights can be seen from a distance of almost 500 kilometers away from Urumqi Airport.

Indeed, some comments in the original video pointed out that it might be a ski resort, which is a plausible idea. However, the ski resort mentioned earlier was too far away, so I searched for a few ski resorts near Urumqi that align with the flight's perspective. It's important to note that information about these ski resorts can only be found on Chinese maps. Therefore, I re-labeled their locations on Google Maps based on Chinese map coordinates and directly marked the positions of each resort's ski slopes for further analysis.

I am not sure about the accurate English translations of these ski resorts, so I will use the original Chinese terms to prevent any mistakes in your search！

1. 新疆紅樹林國際滑雪度假區（https://hk.trip.com/travel-guide/at...mangrove-international-ski-resort-150322901/）
Gaode Map (Ski Resort Reception Area)：
https://www.amap.com/place/B0KKU7UV0Q

Google Earth coordinates：
https://earth.google.com/web/search/43°48'41.4"N+87°46'28.4"E/@43.81232454,87.78346068,1118.56078533a,964.7493094d,35y,161.80806662h,83.32479803t,0r/data=Cj4iJgokCRjE3_XMAkZAEWOWlYlK-kVAGWeyHzL37VVAIf5FkRYA5lVAKhAIARIKMjAyNS0xMS0wMxgBQgIIAToDCgEwQgIIAEoNCP___________wEQAA

2.维斯特滑雪场（https://share.google/5rSwf4tMLPkIbB1qU）
Gaode Map：https://www.amap.com/place/B0FFFSUCT1
Google Earth coordinates：https://earth.google.com/web/search...EtMDMYAUICCAE6AwoBMEICCABKDQj___________8BEAA

3.天山天池国际滑雪场（https://share.google/PHpXdvOLj4RXkIH5i）
Gaode：https://www.amap.com/place/B03E20M674
google：https://earth.google.com/web/search...S0wMxgBQgIIAToDCgEwQgIIAEoNCP___________wEQAA

 

[Starflint]

I believe it is called the Shirenzigou Bridge or Shirenzigou Grand Bridge, or in Chinese "Shi Ren Zi Gou Te Da Qiao".

https://share.google/aMVcPxzA455mrL1Uk

I think you have solved this one, it seems like a match.

A question arises: if it were a large bridge, it would connect extremely long highways, meaning the highway streetlights would also be very long and not abruptly cut off in a short segment as seen in the video. Additionally, the Shirenzigou Bridge appears to be almost longitudinally oriented relative to the aircraft's perspective. Even if captured, I think the length and tilt angle would likely differ

 

[Matt33]

Here is a view from the tunnel entrance looking South. The tunnel entrance is lit by a couple of street lights. They can also be seen on Google Earth, but span only over a distance of about 200m.

 

[flarkey]

1. 新疆紅樹林國際滑雪度假區（https://hk.trip.com/travel-guide/at...mangrove-international-ski-resort-150322901/）
Gaode Map (Ski Resort Reception Area)：
https://www.amap.com/place/B0KKU7UV0Q

Google Earth coordinates：
https://earth.google.com/web/search/43°48'41.4"N+87°46'28.4"E/@43.81232454,87.78346068,1118.56078533a,964.7493094d,35y,161.80806662h,83.32479803t,0r/data=Cj4iJgokCRjE3_XMAkZAEWOWlYlK-kVAGWeyHzL37VVAIf5FkRYA5lVAKhAIARIKMjAyNS0xMS0wMxgBQgIIAToDCgEwQgIIAEoNCP___________wEQAA


View attachment 87759

Numbers 2 & 3 dont fit, but this one looks like it could work. Its pretty close to the 'bridge' loctation, so the lines-of-sight from the plane might work too.