Alien hopes crash to earth as glowing spiral over UK traced to SpaceX rocket

The truth is out there … it is just not quite as exciting as was hoped.

A large, glowing spiral that lit up the skies over the UK on Monday night and prompted speculation of an alien encounter is believed to have been caused by a SpaceX rocket.

The growing swirl, visible for several minutes across Britain, was initially thought by some to be an aircraft, or even extraterrestrial activity, but has now been attributed to a launch at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Elon Musk’s company SpaceX held a launch for the US government shortly before 1.50pm local time (1750 GMT) and it is understood the Falcon 9 rocket’s frozen exhaust plume caused the display.

The Met Office said on the social media site X: “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.”