Many residents of the Portsmouth area were shocked, and some even alarmed, to see what looked like a flying saucer hovering over the south coast.
The sighting of an unidentified flying object in the United Kingdom is of a different league in the country, as previous alleged UFO activity in the UK has mostly been in the form of crop circles appearing in farmlands.
The UFO, which upon first look at the picture taken of it may appear as nothing more than a strangely shaped cloud, has baffled cynics upon closer inspection.
"After looking at the images, I can say the object has nothing to do with the weather," said Laura Young from the Met Office. "It is not meteorological and is not a cloud."
Johnny Blackwell, a resident of the south coast, also expressed his confusion as to the true nature of the alleged UFO.
"I don't believe in UFOs, but when I saw this I didn't know what it was," Blackwell said.
Blackwell added that the object didn't look like a cloud at all because it was shaped like a disc. In addition, it was moving very fast.
Lewis Rogers, a 26-year-old animation director, saw the alleged UFO as he was in the city to visit a friend. According to Rogers, he first thought that the object was an airplane. However, he quickly thought otherwise as the object was moving too fast to be one.
"I was the only one who saw it who was quick enough to take the picture. I definitely believe in UFOs. I often look up at the sky in the evening wondering if there is anything or anyone else out there," Rogers said.
"Given the pictures show a dark object against a daytime sky, it is clearly not an astronomical object," said Karen Masters of the University of Portsmouth, debunking thoughts that the object could be an alien spaceship.
Masters adds that many alleged sightings of UFOs have actually been sightings of the planet Venus. However, she says that the object shown in the picture could not possibly be a misinterpreted vision of Venus.
Another UFO was reported a few months ago in August, with an object seen floating above Houston, Texas after a rainstorm.
Several photos, along with a video, of the alleged UFO sighting was circulated in social media. However, a UFO expert is debunking the sighting, saying that the lights in the video could just be the lights from the highway reflecting on the moving vehicle's windows.
