Unidentified giant red orb seen in north Brisbane sky

Is it a spy drone? Is it aliens? An unidentified object seen in the skies over Brisbane has concerned onlookers scratching their heads. SEE THE VIDEO

A giant red orb moving at tortoise pace across the sky in Brisbane’s north has startled and concerned onlookers.

Sky watchers took to social media on Sunday night to share sightings of a “creepy” unidentified object over Mitchelton and other northern Brisbane suburbs.

In an online post to a northside community Facebook group, locals speculated about the origin of the bizarre sight slowly making its way across the sky about 7.30pm.

Some credited aliens as the source of the object while others suspected a military style spy drone.

The truth may be a much closer to home as one commenter explained seeing what looked like a flare being shot from Everton Park.

A screen shot taken from a video of the object. Video credit: Geoff Ingram

“I think someone set off what looked like a flare in Teralba Park around that time,” Tony Karl said of the sighting.

“When I looked outside, there was a red fireball slowly descending towards the ground.”

Trish Burnell said it was the second night in a row she had seen the orb.

“It looks like a flare. The first one appeared to land on Brookside and last night it landed on the units in Osborne Rd,” she said on Facebook.

Geoff Ingram captured footage of the slow-moving orb but then sped his video up to show the arc.

He said what he believed to be a flare “took forever to come down” and suspected a special type of flare, known as a parachute flare was the true cause of the unusual sight.

Parachute flares are typically used in emergency situations, usually from a seagoing vessel, and remain in the air longer than normal flares to prolong light for rescuers searching for missing or distressed persons.

Police and emergency services did not have any records of the flare being fired.