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Did you see a strange spiral cloud in the sky last night? It was likely a SpaceX rocket, says the UK Met Office

Did you see a strange, spiral-shaped, glowing cloud-like object in the night sky last night, Monday 24 March?

We've woken up to a flurry of emails in our inbox from stargazers across the UK and Ireland, who spotted – and photographed – the strange spiral formation in the night sky.

Daryl-lynn Milbourne captured this image of the spiral cloud over Suffolk, UK, 24 March 2025

At first glance, the strange shape appears not dissimilar to distant spiral galaxies, or even the dusty protoplanetary discs that form around newborn stars.

But of course, it's much too big and too easily seen with the naked eye to be a deep-sky object like this.

The UK Met Office has explained in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that the object in question is part of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

We've received many reports of an illuminated swirl in the sky this evening 💫

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

— Met Office (@metoffice) March 24, 2025

Jeremy Tuck witnessed the strange cloud spiral over North Yorkshire, 8pm UTC, 24 March 2025

"This is likely to be caused by the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, launched earlier today," the Met Office said in its post.

"The rocket's frozen exhaust plume appears to be spinning in the atmosphere and reflecting the sunlight, causing it to appear as a spiral in the sky."

Jeremy Tuck witnessed the strange cloud spiral over North Yorkshire, 8pm UTC, 24 March 2025

Sure enough, a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched at 01:48 ET on 24 March from Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA.

The spiral shape is caused when rocket fuel is ejected from the upper stages of the Falcon 9 during its journey to Earth orbit.

Hannah and Austin baker photographed the strange spiral cloud over Windsor, UK at 8:01pm UTC, 24 March 2025

Unlike older single-use rockets, the Falcon 9 is reusable and, after launching into space, it releases its payload (i.e. the load it's carrying into space such as a satellite, for example).

That payload continues into Earth orbit and the rocket returns to Earth.

It ejects leftover fuel, which freezes instantly at such high altitude. The rocket's rapid rotation causes the frozen fuel to form a spiral pattern.

Daryl-lynn Milbourne captured this image of the spiral cloud over Suffolk, UK, 24 March 2025

You can see it in the night sky because this frozen fuel reflects sunlight back towards Earth.

Thanks to everyone who sent in their images of this strange spiral cloud in the night sky last night.

You can see some of the best in our gallery below.

If you saw the strange spiral cloud, send us your images!

Mr Chris Brown captured this image at 8pm UTC, Monday 24 March 2025. The strange spiral cloud structure is part of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket dumping leftover fuel

Daryl-lynn Milbourne captured this image of the spiral cloud over Suffolk, UK, 24 March 2025

Jeremy Tuck witnessed the strange cloud spiral over North Yorkshire, 8pm UTC, 24 March 2025

Lee Ellis captured this view of the strange spiral 'cloud' in the night sky over Wigan, UK, 24 March 2025

Hannah and Austin baker photographed the strange spiral cloud over Windsor, UK at 8:01pm UTC, 24 March 2025

Vicky and Nikkii captured this image from their garden in Crewe, UK, with an Android smartphone

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