A strange spiral in the sky over England caught the attention of many stargazers Monday night.
The sight, which was most likely caused by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that launched from Kennedy Space Center around 2 p.m., was shared by the British meteorological agency and went viral, with people wondering about its origin.
We've received many reports of an illuminated swirl in the sky this evening 💫
— Met Office (@metoffice) March 24, 2025
This is likely to be caused by the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, launched earlier today. The rocket's frozen exhaust plume appears to be spinning in the atmosphere and reflecting the sunlight, causing it to… pic.twitter.com/4a9urgZceR
Experts believe the spiral was formed by frozen excess fuel released from a reusable SpaceX rocket returning to Earth after launching a satellite. The rocket’s spin in the upper atmosphere caused the fuel to freeze into a spiral shape. Sunlight reflecting off the frozen fuel made it visible.
Simon Minnican, a photographer, filmed a captivating scene in which a bright spot emerged, steadily increasing in size before evolving into a swirling vortex.
Minnican stitched the video from the Falcon 9 deorbit burn and fuel dump visible over the UK. The entire event unfolded over 12 minutes, with the light spiral gradually fading about 4 minutes after it fully expanded.