Alasdair Burns, a stargazing guide received a text from a pal at about 7.25pm local time saying to go and look at the sky - after which he said he was left with an "eerie feeling" seeing the phenomenon
Stargazers were left puzzled when they saw spiralling blue light formations in the sky last night.
Alasdair Burns, a stargazing guide in New Zealand, received a text from a pal at about 7.25pm local time saying to go and look at the sky.
He told the Guardian: “As soon as we actually went outside, it was very obvious what it was he was referring to."
Alasdair says he saw a massive, blue spiral of light in the sky.
He added: "It looked like an enormous spiral galaxy, just hanging there in the sky, and slowly just drifting across. Quite an eerie feeling.”
The stargazer took a few images on his phone using the long exposure function.
He says he then went to all the neighbours and knocked on their doors.
He said: "And so there were about five of us, all out on our shared veranda looking up and just kind of, well, freaking out just a little bit.”
New Zealand's stargazing community shared on social media their thoughts on the phenomenon while sharing images and questions.
Theories ranging from UFOs to foreign rockets to commercial light displays were all speculated.
One stargazer wrote online: "Premonition from our orbital black hole."
Another added: "Aliens at it again."
However, a physicist at Auckland University said the phenomenon was “weird but easily explained”.
Prof Richard Easther said the clouds of that nature sometimes occurred when a rocket carried a satellite into orbit.
He explained that when the propellant is ejected out the back you have water and carbon dioxide briefly form a cloud in space that gets illuminated.
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The position of Earth combined with the satellite's orbit can create the "wacky looking clouds", he added.
He also said the rocket in question was likely the Globalstar launch from SpaceX, which the company sent into low-earth orbit off Cape Canaveral in Florida yesterday.
In 2009, a Russian missile launch caused similar blue spirals over Norway.
In February, Michael Allotta, 40, stepped outside his home in Australia and was shocked when he saw a distinct blue pattern amongst the clouds.
It appears to be an almost neon colour, rather than the natural shade of the sky and formed during a recent thunderstorm.
He was convinced it was something supernatural or sci-fi related and said the most likely explanation is that it's a "portal to another dimension".
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