A peculiar glowing sphere was spotted in the skies over Wales and other parts of the UK on Monday evening, sparking a wave of social media speculation about the nature of the unusual luminescent form. It was visible in various regions across the UK, including Wales, captivating onlookers nationwide.

Excited spectators promptly shared images and videos of the mysterious light, described as 'spinning' in the night sky, on social media platforms such as X and Facebook. The strange formation was sighted above Newport in Pembrokeshire, Beddau, Tredegar, parts of Powys, and other places of Wales.

Comments from those who witnessed the spectacle fuelled further intrigue, with one person asking: "Anyone else just see this in the sky? It just kept spinning."

The conversation continued with another adding: "What have we just seen? It was moving and then faded away after about two minutes and there were other small what looked like stars moving around it too."

One observer queried: "Did anyone else just see this swirling thing in the sky? It was spinning round and then went off into the distance."

Another individual posted on social media: "Anyone seen the strange moving objects in the sky? 8pm. One bright thing with white misty rings round it. Moving slow for ages then completely disappeared."

Wales Online reports that an intrigued sky-watcher noted: "A strange bright light with swirls and halo glow around it appeared tonight at roughly 7.55pm."

Explaining further, they said: "It firstly seems to come towards us and then moved away across the sky until out of sight."

The orbs in the sky could be linked to the launch of a Space X US spy satellite, which serves as a plausible explanation. The satellite was sent aloft by a Falcon 9 rocket blasting off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida shortly after 1.45pm on Monday, on a top-secret mission known as NROL-69 for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). It's not the first instance where such a spectacle has puzzled onlookers. Back in 2023, a similar unexplained spiral captured attention over parts of the USA, later identified as remnants from a SpaceX rocket that jettisoned surplus fuel post-launch from California a few hours earlier. In fact, this unusual spiral phenomenon is often caused by expelled, then frozen rocket fuel reflecting sunlight.