Per another Reddit thread (https://old.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/o5r4hw/sped_up_shangh...), there's a nightly lightshow in Shanghai this month in celebration of the CCP's 100th anniversary: https://twitter.com/shen_shiwei/status/1407341364858261512

This would effectively mean that the one we're seeing here is the cast shadow of a building, and that the sky itself is illuminated by the light. The "UFO" is in fact, a shadow

I think this seems like the most reasonable explanation

But when they pan down and back up you can see there's no light show on at that time from the buildings. Also if a light show, the lights are colorful, and often strobing and rotating, but the triangle is static. I think lightshow is debunked.

But it's a fair guess. I also think that a static vertical spotlight atop a building could do this, but the air in Shanghai is not exactly particulate free and if you had these powerful light beams you'd expect to see a trace of them along the line from source to cloud, but there's no such. I think the ground-source idea is, well maybe not debunked but less likely than "odd triangular air mass", or CG. It could be a massive drone or something suspended from helicopters above it, maybe it could be like a light or firework platform that's being tested as part of the centenary celebrations?

So, it must be communist aliens then

If that thing is real it would be massive. Like the Independence Day mothership massive.

I really doubt something that big can sneak up on us like this.

I am still leaning towards a hoax/marketing campaign but this footage is super cool

When the "close" lower clouds drift beneath it, they show the same discolouration, but even lower clouds do not. This suggests to me that there is a light above the shape which is being blocked by shape OR that the lights are coming up from beneath, likely at a sharp angle, that is being blocked by a building (hence the shadows).

It looks eerie, but I think this one is due to the light show currently underway in Shanghai, such as from those distant buildings in the video.

Actually pretty interesting footage, doesn't look like a reflection or anything. Without being able to read chinese however it's hard to tell if anyone in the comments have any insight into it being a cg faker or something like that

Looks like a "reverse batman signal" to me.

You mean, a shadow cast by a building onto a cloud? That seems like the most plausible explanation, but if that's the case, why isn't it a constant feature, why is it only appearing now? Also, it looks more sharply defined than I would expect if that were the case.

> why is it only appearing now?

Maybe the clouds have to be just the right height/composition to see the effect. If the clouds were higher it might be too small and diffuse to see, maybe the lower clouds are partially blocking some other light sources making it much more pronounced or something along those lines.

Why did no one break out a high powered laser pointer or range finder?

I feel that if it was cast from a building, the shadow would be stretched down to the source. However maybe a shadow from some kind of kite?

Appears not, it can clearly be seen above the cloud or smog, this sped up video shows this to be the case: https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/o5r4hw/sped_up_shangh...

A shadow cast at a distance has blurry edges. Those are crisp. Also, there are clouds that pass in front. I wonder if 1+ drones are creating this visual

Someone on reddit translated the words and a few others chimed in that the speakers sounded really authentic

EDIT: found it, https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/o5g78m/triangle_over_...

IsaKissTheRain on Reddit commented:

8h There are multiple videos, from different angles. I also ran two of them through some software made for detecting artefacts of CGI. Nothing popped up.

The dialogue, since I understand Mandarin, also matches up and seems very genuine. -----------

Pitter patter.

True, though something odd is that there aren't multiple videos. Multiple ones available are all from the same building, maybe even same room

this video was linked from the thread and appears to be a compilation of several videos shared on social media: https://youtu.be/WWo0b-g0iZU

Yeah to me it looked like there were several different videos, and even though I have no idea what's being said the tone of the background voices seemed to sound like other people nearby noticed it

The second video in that Twitter thread is from a different building. You can see when they pan down the skyline's not the same.

It is transparent. My initial thought wasn't UFO, but a triangle of clear sticky tape stuck on a window.

Not a bad idea, but at least one of the videos seems like it's taken from a doorway to a small balcony, and sticky tape on window wouldn't seem to be affected too much by clouds moving around it so that it changes from blurry to clear and partially occluded to more exposed.

My far-out idea is that if it is some sort of human developed thermoptic camouflage, it's not perfect and the dark area is the physical outline of the craft as physical clouds buffet against it.

I'm a pretty skeptical person when it comes to stuff like this, but that footage is eerie.

Really looking forward to having it explained. if its not CG then it's going to be a hard one to explain.

> I'm a pretty skeptical person when it comes to stuff like this, but that footage is eerie.

Really? I'm wondering what then does trigger your skepticism? There's no reference points in the video, there's so much smog/clouds you can't see anything, the camera quality is bad, the only thing you see is a shadow/contour, not the object itself, etc. This could easily be a composited or rendered video.

Please, I'm genuinely interested in what it is in this video what makes you think aliens is a plausible/probable explanation?

eerie doesn't mean i believe its fact. just that i find it disquieting.

also, UFO != Aliens. Given the size of the universe and the distances needed to travel. I doubt we'll ever see intelligent aliens in our lifetimes. or even our kids lifetime.

but its either a very good cg or something amazing.

> Really looking forward to having it explained

We have satellites in space regularly scanning the whole planet. If you can see it from below you ought to be able to see it from above.

But are those satellites looking at that spot at that time. Just because we have satellites does not mean they are watching the whole earth 24x7

Satellites definitely do watch the whole populated word 24/7. The question is if the satellites that watched this specific place have enough high resolution. And also if some human will ever watch it. Seems like its cloudy and there is no much reason why anyone would look at these images. They are just feed into computers and maybe even deleted after that.

If a government (any) could build and operate these type of aircraft - what would be their purpose?

That is what I cant figure out.

The conspiracy theory idea I've heard is that at some point there is an intention to fake an "alien attack" in order to extend governmental power, etc.

it would have to be a democratic country with these types of capabilities. US, is the obvious choice

Sun blockers? Mr burns style, but to fight global warming - giant kites that reflect light upwards and absorb from below?

Perhaps one nation whose navy is being harassed by UFOs is demonstrating that they, too, can play that game.

Spooky but my vote is CG for this one.

Seems to be maybe 3 different videos caught this. They could be fake accounts but that’s elaborate

If you are working in 3D... it is trivial to output 3 different videos compared to one. All it takes is a bit of time to animate each camera and boom, you have 3 different videos all record it from different perspectives.

I meant I thought it was 3 different people who uploaded videos, hence 3 Twitter accounts. That’s what would make it more a bit more elaborate. I could be mistaken about the number of accounts though

I sure hope so. I don't think we're ready to meet aliens, peaceful or otherwise.