Skywatchers across western Europe were shocked to see a blue spiral in the night sky on Monday, March 24, 2025, a sight that caused social media to be dominated by strange and confusing images for many hours.
The giant blue spiral seen from myriad locations across the continent proved not to be aliens — as frequently mooted — but the exhaust from a rocket launch two hours previously.
The U.K.’s Met Office weather service received multiple reports of an “illuminated swirl in the sky” at about 8:00 p.m. GMT (4:00 p.m. EDT). It was visible for several minutes and thought by some to be the result of extraterrestrial activity, according to The Guardian. It was caused by SpaceX, a company owned by Elon Musk that frequently launches satellites, typically its own, for its Starlink broadband internet constellation.
However, this launch of a Falcon 9 rocket took one, or possibly more, surveillance satellites into Earth orbit on a mission for the US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). That mission launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, at 1:48 p.m. EDT on Monday, March 24 — about two hours before the spiral was sighted in Europe — though exactly what was being launched is unknown.
The shape of the spinning spiral is akin to that of a spiral galaxy, but it’s a frozen plume of fuel from the second stage of a Falcon 9 rocket reflecting the sun’s light from below the horizon. The rocket was in the upper atmosphere and spinning at the time — possibly because at least two satellites were being deployed — causing a spiral shape to be seen.
This is not the first time a blue spiral has been seen in the wake of a SpaceX rocket launch. Similar phenomena have been seen over the Barents Sea, New Zealand, east Africa, Hawaii and Alaska, according to SpaceWeather.com.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
