A large "mysterious spiral" suddenly appeared in the sky above Alaska over the weekend, baffling some experienced aurora viewers and photographers who had been there before.
Todd Salat, known as "The Aurora Hunter," has been capturing images of the northern lights for years. However, in the early hours of the morning, he witnessed something new - an "illuminating gyre in the sky" passing over Donnelly Dome near Delta Junction, southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska, away from city lights, per CBS News.
The enigmatic object, which he captured on camera, seemed to be a massive, dimly-lit spiral galaxy floating just over a mountain amid emerald auroras.
While seeing the lights from the state's northwest, Elizabeth Withnall also shared pictures of the bizarre sight she saw, per UPI.
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Expert Says Alaska Mysterious Spiral Object is Not UFO
Don Hampton, optical science manager at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, clarified that the incident was related to a flying object but not a UFO.
He explained that he had personally witnessed fuel being released from a rocket about three times before. He said that when rockets release fuel at high altitudes, it turns into ice. If it happens to be in sunlight when you're in darkness on the ground, you can see it as a big, sometimes "swirly" cloud, but "it's not a galaxy."
According to Hampton, the spiral was "simply water vapor reflecting sunlight.
On Friday evening, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from the Californian Vandenberg Space Force Base, per The Daily Mail.
A huge portion of Alaska could see it since it was a polar launch.
The Falcon 9 was carrying 51 satellites, all of which were part of the Transporter-7 mission.
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