Stargazers were stunned as blue spiral clouds appeared in the New Zealand sky

Alasdair Burns, a star guide, received a text message from a pal around 7.25pm ​​local time, telling him to look up at the sky – after which he said he had an ‘eerie feeling’ about seeing the phenomenon

Stargazers were puzzled to see spiraling formations of blue light across the sky last night.

Alasdair Burns, a star guide in New Zealand, received a text message from a friend at around 7.25pm ​​local time, telling him to go and look at the sky.

He told the Guardian: “Once we actually went outside it was very obvious what he was referring to.”

Alasdair says he saw a massive spiral of blue light across the sky.

He added: “It looked like a giant spiral galaxy just hanging in the sky and slowly drifting across. Quite an eerie feeling.”

The stargazer snapped a few pictures on his phone using the long exposure feature.

He says he then went to all the neighbors and knocked on their doors.

He said, “And so there was about five of us, all out on our shared porch looking up and just kind of, well, freaking out a bit.”

The New Zealand stargazing community took to social media to share their thoughts on the phenomenon, sharing pictures and questions.

Theories have been speculated ranging from UFOs to foreign missiles to commercial light displays.

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One stargazer wrote online: “Premonition from our orbital black hole.”

Another added: “Aliens back on.”

However, an Auckland University physicist said the phenomenon was “strange but easy to explain”.

Prof Richard Easther said such clouds sometimes appeared when a rocket launched a satellite into orbit.

He explained that when the propellant is ejected aft, water and carbon dioxide briefly form a cloud in space that is illuminated.

The Earth’s position combined with the satellite’s orbit can create “crazy looking clouds,” he added.

He also said the rocket in question was likely SpaceX’s Globalstar launch, which the company sent into low-Earth orbit off Cape Canaveral in Florida yesterday.

In 2009, a Russian rocket launch caused similar blue spirals over Norway.

In February, 40-year-old Michael Allotta stepped outside his home in Australia and was shocked to see a distinct blue pattern between the clouds.

It appears to be an almost neon color rather than the sky’s natural shadow and was created during a recent thunderstorm.

He was convinced it was something supernatural or sci-fi related, saying the most likely explanation was that it was a “portal to another dimension”.