Spiral in the sky spotted in sky above the North West – BBC.com
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. “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.”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.Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.BBC Sport asks Liverpool fans what they think amid a huge online reaction to Trent Alexander-Arnold’s potential move to Real Madrid.There were proposals to build an all-girls Muslim faith school on the site.A family court judge ruled the mother had “conspired” with the baby’s father to hide the truth.Volunteers say they had to tidy up a park after Liverpool half marathon runners had left.Copyright 2025 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.
