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'Impressive' spiral in sky captured across North West

Jonny Humphries/BBC A dark night sky with a spiral light in the middle. There are several stars surrounding the light.Jonny Humphries/BBC
BBC journalist Jonny Humphries took this image of the sky above his home in Liverpool last night

Social media has been flooded with images of Monday evening's night sky - with a white spiral of light drawing the attention of many.

The large glowing spiral is believed to have been caused by a SpaceX rocket launch in the US.

The Met Office said the shape was likely produced by a frozen plume of fuel from the rocket's exhaust, which reflected the sunlight and appeared to spin in the atmosphere.

Georgina Wilkinson from Ramsbottom, Greater Manchester said: "My daughter thought it was spooky and wouldn't get out of the car. It was really impressive.

Georgina Wilkinson A dark sky with the light swirl in the top of the image Georgina Wilkinson
Georgina Wilkinson captured the sky after being alerted to it by her daughter.

"At first I thought it was the moon behind some clouds as it was that bright in the sky. But then she spotted the swirling pattern and it moved across the sky."

Shaun Winter caught this image in Northwich: "I've just taken these photos on my phone in the night sky over Northwich. They don't do what I saw justice. It was amazing and eerie to see."

Shaun Winter Less distinct image of swirl in the skyShaun Winter
Shaun Winter caught this image in Northwich

The cloud-like shape was visible for several minutes above the UK and elsewhere in Europe before fading.

The Falcon 9 rocket from Elon Musk's space company lifted off at around 13:50 local time in Florida (17:50 GMT) on a classified US government mission.

JoshuaPWigan A grey sky with the light swirl in the centre above a pitched roofJoshuaPWigan
A Wigan resident took a photograph of the sky on Monday evening
@Foxxwatch Swirl in the sky@Foxxwatch
This camera usually tracks urban wildlife in Manchester. Contributor @Foxxwatch writes: "Not wildlife, but some cool photos I got of the international space station overhead of Manchester tonight."

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