A bizarre glowing orb has appeared across the skies of Wales and other parts of the UK on Monday evening, prompting a flurry of social media activity asking exactly what the unusual bright shape is. Visible in different parts of the UK including in Wales, the unusual celestial event captured the attention of people all over the the country.
Eager witnesses quickly took to social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook with images and clips of the strange light, described as 'spinning' in the night sky. The odd shape has been spotted in the sky above Newport in Pembrokeshire, Beddau, Tredegar, and parts of Powys and other areas of Wales.
On social media, some who saw the object said: "Anyone else just see this in the sky? It just kept spinning. The conversation continued with someone adding: "What have we just seen??? It was moving and then faded away after about two minutes and there were other small what looked like stars moving around it too."
One member of the public who noticed it said: "Did anyone else just see this swirling thing in the sky? It was spinning round and then went off into the distance." One man wrote on social media: "Anyone seen the strange moving objects in the sky? 8pm. One bright thing with white misty rings round it. Moving slow for ages then completely disappeared."
Another observer said: "A strange bright light with swirls and halo glow around it appeared tonight at roughly 7.55pm." They added: "It firstly seems to come towards us and then moved away across the sky until out of sight."
According to Manchester Evening News, the mysterious orb sightings appear to be connected to the recent launch of the Space X US spy satellite, which is considered the most likely explanation. Lift-off occurred when a Falcon 9 rocket propelled itself skywards from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at just after 1.45pm on Monday on a covert operation dubbed NROL-69 for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).
This isn't the first time such a phenomenon has occurred. In 2023 a similar inexplicable spiral dazzled observers across parts of the USA, resulting from excess fuel being ejected by a SpaceX rocket after its departure from California hours before. As it turns out, the peculiar spiral anomaly can be attributed to the rocket dispensing leftover fuel that then freezes and casts back the sun's rays.
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