London: A mysterious glowing spiral appeared in the night sky over the UK and Ireland on Monday, 24th of March evening, leaving many stargazers intrigued.
The phenomenon was visible for several minutes before gradually fading, with observers as far north as Denmark and as far south as Milan in Italy reporting similar sightings.
The Met Office addressed the spectacle in a post on X, explaining that the spiral was likely caused by frozen exhaust smoke from Elon Musk’s SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The agency stated that the rocket’s frozen exhaust plume appeared to spin in the atmosphere while reflecting sunlight, making it visible in the night sky.
These spirals form when ejected rocket fuel from the fast-spinning upper stages of the Falcon 9 freezes instantly due to the high altitude. The frozen swirls then reflect sunlight back toward Earth, creating the distinctive glowing spiral effect.
We've received many reports of an illuminated swirl in the sky this evening 💫
This is likely to be caused by the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, launched earlier today. The rocket's frozen exhaust plume appears to be spinning in the atmosphere and reflecting the sunlight, causing it to… pic.twitter.com/4a9urgZceR
— Met Office (@metoffice) March 24, 2025
Eyewitnesses shared their accounts of the unusual sight. A resident from Lytham St Annes in Lancashire described the swirl as initially appearing as a bright light, then forming a blurry ring before developing into a spiral. They added that it “hovered over a church for about five minutes before moving and disappearing.”
Meanwhile, Keeley Williams, who captured an image of the phenomenon at Ivinghoe Beacon in Bedfordshire, noted that it “started off hazy, then became really bright before looking like it was spinning.” Another sighting was reported from Castleford in West Yorkshire, where Jake Gill also snapped a photo of the swirl.
The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Florida at around 5:50 pm UK time (1:50 pm local time) on Monday. The launch was part of a classified mission for the US government, further adding to the intrigue surrounding the sky-bound spectacle.
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