A mysterious spinning orb illuminated the UK night sky on Monday sparking widespread confusion and speculation about a potential UFO sighting. The glowing anomaly was spotted spiralling across the sky in various northern regions, including Greater Manchester, Derbyshire, and Yorkshire. Eyewitnesses described the phenomenon as a strange, swirling light surrounded by misty rings, moving slowly across the sky before disappearing into the night.
The sightings weren't limited to the UK, with reports also emerging from Slovenia and Sweden, where Facebook users shared images and wondered about the origin of the mysterious spinning lights. "Anyone else just sees this in the sky? It just kept spinning," one person wrote on Facebook.
Another commented, "Has anyone else just seen this over Radcliffe in the sky because me and the kids are freaked out." A third added, "What have we just seen??? It was moving and then faded away after about 2 mins and there were other small what looked like stars moving around it too."
A fourth added, "It was like a whirlpool of lights floating across the sky, I've never seen anything like that before."
See more pictures on X:
Incredible orb or object spotted in Wales UK at 8pm. Not the ISS & the glare was visible with naked eye. #UFOx pic.twitter.com/bYHmZmOqKX
— Interstellar (@InterstellarUAP) March 24, 2025
@neiltyson By any chance do you know what this is? It was seen spinning for a couple of minutes in the uk tonight and then disappeared pic.twitter.com/5uL9s4A6rB
— Connor (@EclipseVII) March 24, 2025
We have tonight been sent these videos of the spiralling orb across the sky in Greater Manchester.
— James Holt - M.E.N (@jameshjourno) March 24, 2025
It has been spotted across the UK this evening.@MENnewsdesk pic.twitter.com/nKIuXVEDtf
UK. The blue spiral has been spotted all across England & Wales this evening on 24/03/25. 🇬🇧🌀https://t.co/viL99kxD7N pic.twitter.com/ToMl8BOJxf
— ZetaTalk Followers: Watch X, Planet X, aka Nibiru (@ZT_Followers) March 24, 2025
The real reason:
The mysterious spinning lights were officially attributed to a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a mission for the US National Reconnaissance Office (NROL-69). After liftoff, excess fuel was released into space, freezing and catching sunlight to create a breathtaking spiral display visible from the UK. This phenomenon, known as "rocket ice clouds," was previously observed in 2023 over parts of the US following another SpaceX launch.
"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.
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