Elon Musk's SpaceX rocket was mistaken for an "alien spaceship" in the sky

Strange blue light spirals traveling through the night sky in New Zealand have made observers wonder if it could be an alien spaceship.

The misty spiral formed in space over Nelson, a city on the tip of the south island of New Zealand, and then at about 19:30 on Sunday went 750 km south to Stewart Island.

During the trip , many residents shared their photos of the breathtaking phenomenon on social networks . However, despite early beliefs that it could be a close encounter of the third kind, residents discovered that the origin of the astronomical light show was much closer to home.

It is believed that the spectacle is a dying rocket launched by the billionaire SpaceX company Elon Musk after he launched the Falcon 9 rocket with the Globalstar DM15 satellite from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Sunday morning — this is the third rocket flight in 36 hours.

In a Facebook post on Sunday, the Astronomical Society of New Plymouth explained that the spiral was most likely caused by a "fuel dump" or "exhaust plume" during the launch of a SpaceX rocket.

"Similar effects have been observed before, and SpaceX Globalstar 2 FM15 was probably flying over New Zealand around the same time," he added. "When the rocket released the payload, it spun and released fuel, resulting in a vapor trail reflecting sunlight. The illuminated plume of the rocket created a visible blue vortex."

The Astronomical Society of New Plymouth stated that fuel dumping was the most likely cause of the attractive spiral. The stunning blue spiral was an extraordinary sight for thousands of New Zealanders, despite its artificial origin.

Stuart Island resident Alasdair Burns said the spiral was the strangest thing he had ever seen.

"It was totally weird. It was like a massive spiral. And it was moving very, very slowly, serenely north across the night sky, and then it just sort of dissipated as it went," Mr. Burns told Stuff.

Local Mapua resident Augustine Matthews said she ran outside to look at the spiral with her husband.

"It looked like a planet or a star." she said. "It was just a white dot with a tiny spiral. And in 10 minutes it crossed half of the sky, and the spiral increased three times. It didn't blink or flicker, but moved quite fast... so mesmerizing."

This is not the first time people have seen such a sight. According to the New Zealand Herald, a similar spiral was seen in the Pacific region last year, on June 18.

This spiral, which was brighter in some parts of the Pacific Ocean, was seen in places such as Fiji, Samoa, New Caledonia and the small island of Tokelau.

Later it turned out that the spiral was formed from the release of gas from a Chinese rocket.