A glowing white spiral was spotted in the night sky across the UK last night - puzzling many stargazers.
The light appeared for only a few minutes and then faded, though not before Britons managed to snap a picture of the spinning orb.
And it wasn’t just UK stargazers who managed to catch a glimpse of the phenomenon. Onlookers ranging from northern Denmark to southern Italy noted the cloud-like spiral.
Many social media users were curious about the mysterious spiral and where it came from, however its cause has now been revealed by the Met Office.
Many social media users were curious about the mysterious spiral and where it came from
It said that the phenomenon was likely caused by frozen exhaust smoke from a SpaceX rocket launch.
The light is believed to be leftover fuel released by Elon Musk’s Falcon 9 rocket which freezes due to the altitude.
“The rocket's frozen exhaust plume appears to be spinning in the atmosphere and reflecting the sunlight, causing it to appear as a spiral in the sky,” the Met Office said.
The spiral pattern is caused by the rocket’s movements, which returns to Earth after it completed its mission.
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The spiral pattern is caused by the rocket’s movements
The light is believed to be leftover fuel released by Elon Musk’s Falcon 9 rocket (previous launch)
Reuters
The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Florida at around 1.50pm local time on Monday.
SpaceX said on X the launch was carried out on behalf of the US government National Reconnaissance Office mission.
Reiterating the Met Office’s comments, Professor Brian Cox said on X: “For everyone asking about the strange spiral shape in the sky earlier - it was associated with this launch.”
Onlookers described their bewilderment after noticing the mysterious orb in the night sky.
The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Florida at around 1.50pm local time on Monday (previous launch)
Reuters
One space enthusiast Damian Peach post on Facebook: “While imaging Jupiter and Mars tonight I completely by chance happened to notice a huge ghostly swirl slowly drifting across the northern sky.
“I did wonder if it was an alien species attempting to open a portal into our dimension – but it was in fact a Space X rocket fuel dump.”
A Manchester resident told The Sun it was like nothing she has “ever seen before”.
"It was like a whirlpool of lights floating across the sky,” Abbey Nichols said: “It made me feel really strange.”
"I've never seen anything like that before."
