Mysterious spooky swirling spiral is spotted in the night sky causing UFO fears
A SPOOKY heavenly spiral that has been captured by a giant telescope earlier this month was not caused by aliens but by SpaceX.
The lights spotted on January 18 at an observatory on Mauna Kea, the tallest mountain in Hawaii, were man-made.
The lights were likely caused by the company launching a Falcon 9 booster rocket to bring a new GPS satellite into orbit, Forbes .
The spiral pattern probably emerged in the night sky as the rocket entered its second stage, which entails the device spinning as it discards excess fuel.
This is not the first time the company founded by Twitter owner and Tesla creator Elon Musk has caused an astronomic spectacle like this.
Since those satellites are launched in batches of a few dozen, they often appear to form "trains" that chug their way through the night sky.
SpaceX managed to complete 61 launches last year, which is nearly twice as much as the former record of 31 established in 2021, Space .
The is operated by Japan's National Astronomical Observatory.
It's a result of an agreement between the University of Tokyo and the University of Hawaii reached in the 1980s.
Construction on the telescope began in 1991 and the first successful observation was conducted in 1998.