On Monday(March 24), a huge swirl of light was spotted drifting throughout the night sky in Europe like a heavenly whirlpool. The confusing light program wasn’t triggered by aliens, as some hypothesized, however a passing away SpaceX rocket preparing to crash back to Earth, soon after releasing secret freight into orbit around our world.

At around 8 p.m. regional time(4 p.m. ET), individuals throughout the U.K. reported seeing the luminescent swirl grow as it gradually spotted throughout the sky like something from a sci-fi motion picture, according to the BBCThe light program was most plainly noticeable above parts of England, consisting of LincolnshireYorkshire, LeicestershireSuffolk and Essexalong with in Wales and more afield in Sweden, Croatia, Poland, and Hungary

Professional photographer Simon Minnican recorded the heavenly scene in a sensational video that revealed a brilliant area appear and after that grow in size before swelling into an ever-expanding vortex. The whole phenomenon lasted around 12 minutes, with the spiral of light dissipating approximately 4 minutes after it unfurled.

There was at first some wild speculation about what had actually triggered the uncommon light program, with a minimum of one observer blaming UFOs. Professionals rapidly mentioned that it was a “SpaceX spiral” — a progressively typical phenomenon activated by light showing off rocket fuel discarded into area by spinning SpaceX rockets before they reenter Earth’s environment.

In this case, the spacecraft accountable for the luminescent swirl was a Falcon 9 rocket that had actually released from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 1:48 p.m. ET, more than 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) from where the brilliant spiral was later on identified. This rocket was bring a secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, according to Live Science’s sis website Space.com

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SpaceX spirals take place when the 2nd phase of a Falcon 9 rocket de-orbits and prepares to reenter Earth’s environment, where it either burns up or falls under the ocean. Throughout this maneuver, the spacecraft disposes its staying fuel into area, which then freezes into a cloud of small crystals that show sunshine to Earth. The 2nd phase is usually spinning when the fuel is launched, which is what triggers the spiral shape of the resulting cloud– and discusses why the vortex continuously broadens before dissipating.